


calling in some old help

by RyDyKG



Series: what happens when they’ve had enough? (villains by any other name) [2]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, BAMF Business Bay, Business Bay, Dave | Technoblade and Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Siblings, Fairy Hybrid Time Deo, Gen, Heavy Lore, Human Toby Smith | Tubbo, Lore - Freeform, Magic, Not Beta Read, Original Mythology, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possession, Seer Niki | Nihachu, Snake Hybrid Kit | Wispexe, Team Bonding, They/Them Pronouns for Eret (Video Blogging RPF), also I guess techno’s sis is kind of an oc?, every other relationship is platonic!!!, only romance is with antfrost & velvet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 19,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27791326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyDyKG/pseuds/RyDyKG
Summary: When it seems like everyone is against him, Tommy Innit calls in some old help.It has been long since they were in Business, after all.
Relationships: Antfrost/VelvetIsCake (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit & Kit | Wispexe & LukeOrSomething & Bitzel & Time Deo
Series: what happens when they’ve had enough? (villains by any other name) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033215
Comments: 358
Kudos: 1303





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is kinda for a rant ish? idk I’m just really mad rn but anyway!! business bay!! uhh not sure when the next update’s coming out, I’m very tempted to leave it as it is but also Continuation sooo

The trial finishes, and Tommy wastes no time sprinting for his holiday home. He locks the door behind him as he bursts through. His breaths come out short and panicked, and the cold feeling under his skin doesn’t go away.

‘Techno was right,’ his mind whispers to him. ‘You should’ve followed your brother after all. He’s always right, your brothers have been right all along, they’ve always been right.’

But Technoblade hates him now, Wilbur is a ghost of his former self, Phil can’t face him anymore, and his family has fallen apart so far there’s no way to bring it back together without turning back time, so he curls up on the floor, and _breathes_.

His skin has not felt cold for a very long time, but it seems as if it’s coming back now. He rubs at it, goosebumps all over his skin.

He could go away. Head to Technoblade and beg for forgiveness, and team up with him. He could leave L’manburg, never come back, disappear from everyone’s minds, left to live a peaceful but lonely life somewhere far from the main area. He could do the right thing and disappear, for the greater good of L’manburg.

But a small part of him, the one that was raised by gods who are as merciful as the mobs themselves, wants revenge. That small part of him wants vengeance, wants apologies and gifts and rewards for everything he’s done for this country, for everything he’s sacrificed and shouldered.

That part of him is very loud compared to his other parts. It’s only natural that he listens to it.

He slowly stands up. It’s night time now, the Sun having set while he was busy being a _child_. But that part is over now, and so he has to make plans.

L’manburg will not fall. It rests in the hearts of its citizens, those who fight and breathe and live and die for its success and freedom.

It will not truly fall, for memories cannot be fully lost to time, and rewriting history has proven to be a bad decision multiple times. It will not truly fall, because the stories will still be passed on through time, from generation to generation, never truly forgotten.

But people can be broken. They can shatter and fall into pieces and lose hope. They can lose sight of the real meaning of what they are fighting for.

L’manburg cannot fall. L’manburg cannot be destroyed. But it sure as hell can be distorted to the point of nonexistence, and that’s what Tommy will do. 

Tommy needs allies. He doesn’t have any allies, considering he’s not really on good terms with anyone on the server right now.

But what he does have is knowledge, passed on from his family of pseudo-gods, and friends from a server of cold and factions.

An old book lies in one of his bookshelves, one of the few things he had brought over from another server. One of the only things that people have forgotten as to where it came from, dismissing it as just another book that generates in every bookshelf. And it does look like one of the generic books, which makes it all the better for it to be hidden.

In it, contains scripts and runes of the Old Days. His Dad had given it to him on his seventh birthday, one of the few things he does not share with his brothers. He’s not sure if Techno or Wilbur even know of its existence, though their Dad would’ve told them the same stories he’s heard.

It’s been kept as a last resort all these years. He thought he didn’t need it, thought he could win wars with his own humanity alone. And maybe in another world, in another universe, that would’ve been true. He would’ve been a hero, standing out because of his humanity and his whole self.

But this is not that universe, and the time is ticking to his demise.

He watches the Sun set from his window. In a house, a young president paces back and forth, a nervous wreck, conflicted in his final choice. On the dock, a girl and her brother stand, watching the waves, quiet in their thoughts. On a rooftop, two men of the cabinet sit, both with their own emotions and thoughts. In a castle, a king and his knights plot to reclaim what is truly ‘theirs’. None of them know about each other.

Tommy closes his eyes. His grip on an old and worn book tightens. He turns and walks out of the door.

He’s running out of time. They all are.

Tommy Innit is different from what people think he is. Nobody stupid and naive would be able to grow up in a household like the one he’s grown up in, or be able to survive and thrive in a server where everyone has always been against each other from the start.

He can’t be stupid and naive if he’s been one of the leading soldiers in all of the wars, after all. War doesn’t wait for people to catch up, and that’s something he’s learned from a very, very long time ago.

People like to think they know him. Which isn’t true; far from it, actually, but it still pains him when his friends and people who he’s spent a long time with, reduce him to nothing but stereotypes and what he acts like upfront. They forget who he is.

They forget that he was raised by a legend who survived disasters and death all by himself. They forget that he was taught by a warrior who destroyed cities and won fights against gods for fun. They forget that he was led by a trickster who spun stories with his tongue and charmed others to believe his words.

They forget that Tommy Innit isn’t, and was never, an idiot. They also forget that, when he’s raised by a family like that, he could never be a hero in the first place. That he wouldn’t dare to lower himself to the same morals others would. They forget that you don’t live with monsters without becoming one yourself.

They forget that, when the times call for it, he would do whatever it takes to ensure his victory. Even if he has to use a few cheat codes. 

And that forgetfulness is coming to bite them in the back, big time.

In the dead of the night, when the birds and crickets come out to chirp, and the Moon is casting a silvery light on L’manburg, Tommy takes off into the forest. 

He does not stop running and continues to head further away from the main area of the SMP, even as the Moon starts to fall and the stars start to disappear. No, he has a location in mind, and he needs to get to it.

The long-forgotten portal is just as he remembers it when he finds the clearing. Ducking under overgrown vines and branches, it’s hidden behind overgrown plants and shrubs, and is cleverly disguised as just another kind of ruins. The scripts scrawled on the sides, hidden under dust, say otherwise.

When he was younger, his Dad would teach him about different markings on different ruins. There are portals that would take him to a different world entirely, portals that acted as spells more than anything, and in this case, portals that would let others into this world. There could be multiple in every world, but this specific one is the one that Tommy needs.

Server owners and admins have full control of their world, sure, but there are remains from the Old Days, remains that they cannot control, remains that they cannot stop when open or started. And as such with things of the Old Days, they cannot control what will come from those remains.

Ranboo came from one of those portals, and Dream had shut it down as soon as possible. But shutting it takes time, which is why Ranboo stays, because his code and name have already been added to the list. And shutting it down takes more time when a server owner or a server admin has never been there.

And that is what Tommy is putting his hopes on. Time, and a lack of information on others’ parts.

He finishes the portal, carves the extra runes and scripts into it with a sharp knife and his own blood from his bitten lip, and lets the scripts carved into it glow a bright, icy blue. The portal does not open with colours, not yet, but he tosses letters with names on its front into it, and it disappears, so he assumes the letters have passed through.

The letters will be delivered to the intendeds. Names have power, after all, and this is just one of those times when that fact is more evident than ever. Particles start sparking from it.

In another world, a letter falls from the sky, landing in the hands of a boy, who pauses his fishing to read it. In another land, a boy takes a break from fighting in games, and reads the letter delivered to him. In another server, a boy shoves his hoe into the land, picking up the letter that sprouted from one of his plants and reading it. In another place, a boy gently picks up the letter that had been washed onto shore, opening it up and reading it.

Tommy doesn't know what is happening now, though, in the other worlds. But he will, soon, when the boys of other worlds pick themselves up and ready themselves to fight beside the boy who’s always been their Sun.

He readies all the things he brought, extra weaponry and necessities for those who would come. Then, he waits. Things like this take time, but as the time stretches a bit longer than it should, he gets nervous. He’s not sure if the others have noticed or not, but with each passing second the chance of someone stopping the portal grows and grows.

For a moment, he thinks they won’t come. Betrayal is a notion he’s familiar with, so he’s half-expected it, even if it leaves a bitter and cold taste in his mouth. He turns to head back, to find another way, and then-

And then the portal sparks to light, and his communicator pings with notifications. He knows what it will say, and he grins as _his_ faction, _his_ original Business Bay, step out of the portal.

It’s about time the Business Boys made a return, anyway.

_TimeDeo has joined the server._

_LukeOrSomething has joined the server._

_Bitzel has joined the server._

_Wispexe has joined the server._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s technically weird to make non-hybrids into hybrids.... but I accidentally wrote in snake hybrid wisp and it’s too late to take that back now. anyway wisp is a taipan snake hybrid, take that information as you will.
> 
> this chapter is technically supposed to be on the 2nd of December but it’s really not letting me put it that way soooo

Deo remembers a boy with a smile like the Sun and a determination rivalling everyone else’s. He remembers following that boy into battle, remembers swearing to defend him at all costs.

The boy that stands before him, one covered in scars and hurt and pain, does not look like the same boy. Still, he will follow Tommy into battle again, no matter who or what they’re up against.

Wisp hisses from his side. The older boy steps forwards, and Tommy crashes into his arms, clinging on like it’s his last lifeline. Soon enough, they’re all hugging like it’s their last time together. Finally, when they pull apart, Wisp grabs Tommy’s arm and looks it over.

“What have they done to you?” Wisp snarls. Tommy laughs nervously and steps back.

“It’s fine, Wisp,” he looks at them. “Everyone.”

“I was surprised to find your letter, you know?” Luke says. “Where did you learn that kind of magic?”

Deo rolls his eyes and smiles. “Of course he’ll be the one to do something like this, our Tommy’s a smart one.”

Tommy lights up briefly, and for a moment, his eyes shine in the same way as when they were back in SMPEarth, and Deo revels in the warmth it brings him But then that light fades, and Tommy turns to dig around in his bag.

“We can’t stay here for long,” he tells them, giving them some iron armour and weapons, along with baked potatoes for food. “I’ll explain everything later, when we get to a safe place, but…”

And here he hesitates. “But what?” Deo encourages.

“You’ll… you’ll fight with me, right?” Tommy asks quietly. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve had too many betrayals in the past, before you guys came here and all.”

And that sends a shiver of rage through Deo’s body. They would dare to betray someone like Tommy? How?

“We’re the Business Boys, Tommy,” Bitzel steps forwards and smiles reassuringly at their leader. “The rest can all go fuck off; we’ll stay by you no matter what, and you best believe it, yeah?”

Tommy nods. “Yeah,” he repeats. He gestures for them to follow him, and they do.

Wisp remembers betraying Tommy, back when it was SMPEarth. He remembers the shock and horror on their faces, remembers how it felt, on the plane back to the Antarctic Empire. He remembers how the warmth residing in his blood and veins seem to sap away bit by bit, how it felt so _lonely_ without the rest of the Business Boys with him.

But they had made up after SMPEarth. It took a long time, with the Sun of them all not wanting to trust him so easily again, and the others too protective of their shared light to let him in again without questions. But Wisp had tried, with all his heart and soul, to gain back their trust, because he doesn’t ever want to watch the light fade from their eyes again.

He doesn’t want to lose his family ever again.

Sometimes in the cold of the night he’ll remember the look of the Business Boys’ faces when he betrayed them, and he’ll shudder at the feeling of cold that spreads through his skin, and he’ll vow to never do something like that again.

The betrayals on this server are different. They come from people Tommy has known all his life, from people he thought he could trust but _couldn’t_ , from people who would never try to make up like he did, because it’s not worth their time.

It makes Wisp’s blood boil. It makes his heart clench in sympathy for the boy of the Sun. It makes the side of him that belongs to the Antarctic snarl and hiss in fury and rage.

He doesn’t consider himself to be a bloodthirsty person. He prefers to bark instead of bite for confrontations, negotiate instead of destroy.

But he once vowed to challenge everyone who would dare hurt Tommy, and he lives by that statement, no matter where they are.

Luke was the head builder, back in Business Bay. He was in charge of their stability, of making sure his friends could stay safe in the home he’s built for them.

Even after they drift apart, there’s always something inside of him that wants to seek them out, to help them in their endeavours and make sure they have a good home, and that they stay safe.

So the moment he steps through the portal and looks at Tommy’s exhausted but relieved gaze, and the way he holds himself, almost as if he’s expecting them to stab him in the back any moment now, something buried deep in him _shifts_.

He knows they all want to hurt whoever hurt one of theirs. He sees it in the way Deo and Bitzel situate themselves protectively beside Tommy, sees it in the way Wisp grips onto his sword tightly and his face seems to have more scales than human skin. He feels it in the way he himself doesn’t take his eyes off of Tommy, not even once.

But he knows that before they can fight, they need to rest, and to get information before they do anything rash, before Tommy gets hurt even more.

So he builds a hasty shelter from wood and stone a few hundred blocks away from the original portal, to make it harder for whoever owns the server to discover it. He gets the wool from sheep and makes them into blankets and hands Bitzel feathers and sugarcanes so that he would be able to note everything down.

He plops the blankets onto the others, snickering as Tommy yells indignantly at him. He sits next to Bitzel, while Wisp sits next to him, and Tommy’s squashed between Bitzel and Deo. For a while, he can pretend that it’s just them, back in Business Bay, having fun telling stories and making jokes.

But the warmth of their friendship doesn’t remove the fact that Tommy had called them here because he is in trouble. It doesn’t remove the fact that Tommy’s emotionally and even physically hurt.

And to help him, Luke needs a history.

“Well, Tommy,” Luke offers a soft smile to the boy he had sworn to follow ever since he met him. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

Bitzel has never really considered himself to be notable enough to be a part of any sort of important history. Being important only gets people in trouble, and when he meets Tommy’s dull eyes when he steps through the portal, his stance on that fact becomes firmer.

But he’ll give anything to make Tommy smile as bright as he used to again, and if that means going against a whole server, if that means planting himself firmly into history as a potential villain, as someone important, then that’s what he’ll do.

Tommy looks so tired. He knows all of them see it in the way his shoulders are slouched, in the way his smile is so kind yet so sad at the same time. 

Tommy shouldn’t have ever looked so sad.

He listens to what Tommy has to say, listens to the stories he tells of the land they’ve arrived in, and jots it all down neatly and in understandable notes. He listens, and writes, even as his hand almost drops the pen and book to go and hug Tommy tight and never let him go, because how _dare_ they take away his smile and his light, that’s his _Sunshine_.

When Tommy finishes, Bitzel carefully puts away the book, before leaning over to hug Tommy tightly.

“My god, Tommy,” he says, trying so hard not to shed sympathy tears; he can’t cry, not now. “You need- you need a break, man.”

“I mean, yeah,” Tommy sighs. “But it’s not- things aren’t gonna magically fix themselves. I gotta do something.”

“You mean, we gotta do something,” Wisp corrects. “We came here to help you, after all. And we’re gonna do exactly that.”

Tommy looks at him, startled. “I mean, you don’t have to, I was just kinda hoping anyways, you don’t need to-”

“We’re your hitmen and your _friends_ , Tommy. We’ll follow you into whatever you do.” Deo proclaims, and the tone in his voice holds no room for any arguments. Not that any of them would start any, not when they all seem to agree with the statement.

Tommy stares. Slowly turns his head from each of them. He takes in a shaky breath, and nods firmly.

“Thanks.”

There’s no more words needing to be spoken about the issue. Deo, Bitzel, Wisp, Luke — they would all burn in hell for him, and vice versa.

He’s so glad they’re his friends. His eyes get wet, and he hastily wipes them away.

“Alright boys, I don’t really have a plan, so what do we do?” Tommy laughs sheepishly.

“As much I hate to admit it,” Wisp sighs. “We can’t take on both that stupid green bastard and L’manburg at the same time. It’s best to stay out of conflict with the latter first.”

“But then,” Tommy frowns. “What else do we do? ‘Cause I was kinda hinging my whole plan on that.”

“Well, before we start on L’manburg,” Deo begins, a glint in his eye. “Why don’t we work on getting your discs back, Tommy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope I got their base personalities down, at least?? anyways hope you enjoy it, feedback is always welcomed
> 
> also very off-topic but everytime I look at the word ‘business’ my mind pronounces it as ‘bussyness’. what this means is that everytime I look at ‘business bay’ my mind pronounces it as ‘bussyness bae’ so uh


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright so updates are gonna slow down now bc I have e x a m s and they are Not Cool
> 
> but like so like did you know bobcats eat snakes. sure, maybe inland taipans only have other snakes as ‘natural’ predators, but bobcats apparently can eat and kill venomous snakes, and like… yeah. also yes I headcanon antfrost as a bobcat now.
> 
> also antfrost supremacy we love this lil feral catboy who has a connection to names

Eret stares at the communicator in surprise. They hadn’t glanced at it the night before, since they were busy mining and gathering extra resources. But when Tubbo calls for an impromptu meeting with everyone in L’manburg, they look at it per his wishes, and well-

“They were Business Bay,” they say out loud. “On SMPEarth. I remember their group.”

“I never really interacted with them,” Quackity says with a frown. “I’ve heard of them, but I was mostly focused on my own things, you know? So I’m just as lost as everyone else who weren’t on the SMP here.”

“I don’t think they’re a threat,” Tubbo says. “I mean, I knew of them back when me and Tommy weren’t as close as we are now. They’re nice. They helped me out with my stuff.”

“Okay, but how are they like?” Fundy asks, his voice tinged with frustration. “No offence, Tubbo, but they could’ve changed. Wasn't SMPEarth like, a year ago? Or was it two?”

Eret thinks of their memories in SMPEarth with Business Bay. They remember a group of boys, starting wars and fighting against factions made of gods and legends and myths, somehow surviving through it all.

They remember their dangerously protective streak, and shiver.

“They are,” Eret and Tubbo share a look, and they know Tubbo is thinking what they’re thinking too. In the end, they let Tubbo speak.

“In my experience in SMPEarth,” Tubbo starts off carefully. “Business Bay is really, really protective of Tommy. All of us used to regard them as kind of like Tommy’s hitmen or assassins, because when he wanted someone dead or something to happen, all it took was one word from him and they would go do it.”

“They are friends,” Eret adds on. “It’s not some weird worship thing or whatever. They are friends, it’s just… Tommy’s the person they rally around. He’s their leader.”

“They’re all pretty good at PVP too,” Tubbo continues. “Time Deo was on par with _Technoblade_ in terms of how much people feared him. The others were great, too. Not as powerful as some of the others, but powerful enough that they were a force to be reckoned with.”

“But will they fight back?” Fundy questions, a worried look on his face. “Okay, wait, bad wording. Will they go against L’manburg?”

And that’s a question Eret can’t answer with confidence. But from their memories, from what they’ve seen before with Business Bay…

“For Tommy? Yes.”

“So this is L’manburg?” Deo asks Tommy as they near the wooden houses, balloons permanently floating in the sky, and the raised platforms standing tall, with craters below it.

“Yeah,” Tommy smiles fondly. “We decided to keep the history of November 16, so we built the New L’manburg over it.”

Bitzel can understand that. Keeping history is a smart idea, although it could’ve been done in a different, better way. Then again, he wasn’t here for the beginning of it.

Tommy scowls when he sees the half-built walls around the area. “Fucking Dream,” he mutters.

Wisp lets out a quiet snarl, and Bitzel’s pretty sure his face doesn’t show any sign of happiness at the mention of the green bastard. Deo looks ready to murder, and Luke, unlike the rest of them, stays calm. Almost too calm, actually.

They make it to the bottom of the stairs leading up to the main area of L’manburg, when a figure appears in front of them.

Bitzel has to stop himself from openly gaping at the grey-skinned man in front of him.

He knows of Wilbur Soot. He’s seen him in action back in SMPEarth, has watched him scare people away with his words alone, has heard of his brutality and mania in his challenges and competitions. The Wilbur Soot he’s known is a cruel but charming man, one powerful and deadly in his words and his ways, a trio alongside Technoblade and Philza.

The Wilbur Soot that stands in front of him now looks nothing like that. The Wilbur Soot here looks soft and lost and, most importantly, _empty_.

“Hello,” he speaks up, and his voice is raspy and quiet. “Are you new here? It’s nice to meet you!”

He extends a hand, and Bitzel’s assaulted with a cold, empty, dull feeling. It’s suffocating and strangling, and he stiffens as his body freezes in shock, before reality comes back to him.

Bitzel cringes away from Wilbur Soot’s hand. The ghost of a man makes his danger sense blare up harshly, and he has to restrain himself from attacking.

The ghost retracts his hand with a frown. “Did I do something wrong?” he asks. “I didn’t mean to. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he tries to offer a smile, but it probably comes off as a grimace instead.

“Hey, Ghostbur,” Tommy says. “I’m just bringing some friends here.”

The fact that Tommy and probably everyone else is calling the dead Wilbur Soot by a different name probably means something, but Bitzel’s senses are still too high-strung for him to evaluate it now, so he does his best to stay still and not lash out.

“We should go meet with the others,” Luke speaks up, a hand gently grabbing onto Bitzel’s arm, rubbing it in comfort. “You know, like Tubbo, Eret, Niki…”

“Oh, yeah!” Tommy nods and waves goodbye to Ghostbur. “We have to leave now.”

“You should visit my library sometime!” Ghostbur calls back as they head to the housing area of L’manburg.

Bitzel takes one last look back at the ghost, still humming as he sets up his stand. Ghostbur is but a shell of his former self, and Bitzel doesn’t want to be near him any longer than he should.

Antfrost’s not entirely sure what to think of the new arrivals.

Well, he knows what he’s supposed to think of them. He has been privy to Dream’s long rants about how and why this should not have happened, and his frustration in trying and failing to ban them from the server. He has also been discussing with Bad and Sam about what to do with them. 

One discussion leads to another, and now he’s perched on top of a tower as he watches them. Wispexe, Luke-Or-Something, Time Deo, Bitzel, and Tommy Innit. The group that made up ‘Business Bay’ back in SMPEarth.

Antfrost wasn’t in SMPEarth, of course, but he knows enough from all the stories he’s heard over the years.

The new arrivals look close, surrounding themselves around Tommy in a way he hasn’t seen any other friend group do. Not even his own friend group. They all seem to protect Tommy, and if he has to guess, if Tommy somehow wanted to burn down L’manburg or declare war on Dream _again_ , they would follow him into the war.

“Business Bay,” he tests out the name on his tongue. There’s power behind it, that’s for sure. The way it rolls off his tongue feels like ocean waves, sunlight, and danger. It makes his skin prickle up, because the only other time he’s ever felt danger in a name is with the Dream Team. 

He glances down at them from a high tower, watching them talk to Ghostbur before heading up the stairs. As he’s about to head back to the Badlands to report what he’s seen, he takes a look at the group one last time, only to coincidentally meet eyes with a light brown haired boy — Wispexe, if he remembers correctly.

And in that singular moment, a fury he hasn’t felt in a long time starts to swell up in him. He lets out a long, drawn-out hiss. Wispexe turns away before Antfrost can leap down, though. 

Antfrost takes a deep breath in. His ears twitch. His claws — which came out sometime during whatever had happened earlier — retract back.

He sits down on the tower, not even paying attention to the group anymore, more focused on what he had just felt. The only other time he’s felt that sort of sensation was when he was younger, and back then, it had been because of a curse, and an oath.

After some time, he picks himself up, and heads back.

He still doesn’t know much about the new arrivals, but if there’s one thing he knows, is that Wispexe is much, much more dangerous than anyone has predicted. And the worst part is that he doesn’t know _how_.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this sunshine thing is turning to be a pretty big motif huh. don’t know why f. either, so don’t ask me.
> 
> as you could probably tell, there is a direction I am going. it’s called lore 101 and it has a direct link to how much I like PJO. 
> 
> also I completely lost track of time, I’m so sorry anekdmofkc  
> wait did I post this on the wrong day or?? I’ve been so busy with exams what even is time anymore

“Tommy!” Niki watches from above as Tubbo rushes over to Tommy, who’s leading a group of four boys.

She watches from the sidelines quietly as they hug, and Tommy introduces them one by one. She watches as Fundy and Quackity introduce themselves and they all start to talk.

Deo, Wisp, Luke, and Bitzel.

Her grip on the railing tightens, as her mind goes back to the dream she had before.

“Four pillars of a ruin,” she murmurs quietly, remembering the words that came to her in a dream, whispered by her patron god. “Surrounding an altar of sunlight.”

She looks over the group of five, looks at the way they all surround Tommy protectively. Wisp is not the right one for her words, Deo has something else in store, Bitzel has his own ghosts to talk to first, and Tommy is out of the question. Which leaves just Luke.

Mind made up, she heads down the stairs. As the others talk, Niki quietly walks to Luke.

“Do you know what’s going on?” she smiles at him. “Or has Tommy told you already?”

Luke looks startled to be spoken to, but he does respond. “Tommy’s filled us in on everything already,” he says. “You don’t have to worry.”

“So you’ve heard of the disc thing with Dream?” she inquires and presses on. “And the trial?”

“Yeah,” Luke sighs. “Unfortunately.”

“Then you must know that if you’re going to help Tommy, you won’t have much time, yes?” she asks.

“I really don’t mean to offend, but why are you asking me so many questions?” Luke frowns instead of answering her question.

Niki glances around. Everyone else is busy with other things, leaving no one to pay attention to her. She clasps her hands around her mouth, to prevent anyone from lip-reading.

“I won’t mask or hide my words,” she tells him quietly, watching him stiffen up. “But whatever you do, don’t let Tubbo trade those discs to Dream. He can’t have it.”

Luke looks at her critically. There’s a soft scent of fire in the air, mixed with soot and sunlight and something along the lines of change.

“Who are you?” he asks eventually. Niki smiles, putting down her hands and brushing down her dress before replying.

“I just want to keep my friends safe,” she replies serenely. “I’m not your enemy, trust me. If you’ll let me, I can help.”

Luke opens his mouth to reply, but a call from Tommy stops him. He takes one last look at her before leaving.

“What was that all about?” Fundy comes up to her and asks. Niki blinks and smiles.

“I was just making sure he knew everything,” she laughs. “If it’s not too much trouble, can you help me with the bakery?”

“Sure!” Fundy agrees, and she chats with him as they walk to her bakery. She’s only half-paying attention, mind more focused on Business Bay, and what they have in store.

For the sake of the world, she hopes they succeed.

Quackity smiles a plastic smile, and when Tommy and the newcomers have left, and he’s all alone, he ducks into a secluded corner and crumbles onto his knees, biting back the screams and laughter that wants to come out.

His heart thumps. He _feels_ his blood run, his cells multiply, his body work its magic like it always has, only it’s different because he can now feel the rush, the churning, the pain he’s never thought about appearing, and the worst part is that it shouldn’t bother him, because he may not feel pain in his body but he feels pain in a body.

‘Swallowing his heart was a mistake,’ he thinks.

He laughs bitterly, one hand clutching his shirt, just above the place where his heart lies. Even in death, his stupid ram ex-husband still manages to get the last word in. Regret clashes with sadistic happiness, and Quackity coughs.

No blood comes out, but that’s to be expected. After all, there isn’t anything wrong with _his_ body.

Shakily, he stands up, pushing away the feelings and the pain and just _everything_. His wings strain against their bindings, but he quickly folds them tighter to his back, in case Dream is nearby and decides to do another check on how his wings are doing. For all of the rules he’s put on his land, this one’s definitely the worst one.

He comes out of the corner. It’s almost midday now, and he needs to make his rounds around New L’manburg, maybe even talk to some people, and try to sell his ‘drugs’ again.

It’s just like everyday. It’s a routine, and Quackity is good at sticking to his self-imposed routine.

He glances at a meadow far away as he walks up the stairs to his house. The white roses sway in the wind, almost as if they are mocking him. He clenches his fists, and tears his eyes away from them.

Even in death, Schlatt still haunts him. And by _Nether_ , does Quackity want out.

Technoblade pauses in his farming, feeling warmth run through his skin.

Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong.

He had banished himself to the Arctic grounds for a reason. The familiarity of home and safety of snow and cold isn’t one he can give up so easily, but the warmth enveloping his body is also home, but a different kind.

It’s a feeling he associates with _Tommy_ , just like how wind feels like Phil, and ash feels like Ŵįłbùr. It’s also a feeling he wasn’t expecting to feel for a long time, ever since Technoblade… well, he doesn’t need to explain more than that.

The feeling only ever comes when something important has happened. And while Technoblade knows about Business Bay joining the server— it’s hard to ignore his communicator pinging every 5 seconds by Dream’s complaints— he knows that feeling isn’t because of them. 

He has half a mind to just ignore it and continue on his day. But when sunlight shines, he can’t ignore the way it blinds. And at any rate, he has to make sure Tommy hasn’t forgotten how he grew up, or what he’s taught him.

He looks up at the sky, watches the Sun rise to the middle of the sky. He sighs and turns to head inside to pack up his things for a trip, and change into clothes more suited for the character he portrays to everyone else.

It would be amusing to see how New L’manburg is faring, anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so y’know,,,, the classic tumblr plug,,,,,,  
> anyway @abnormal-normality is my user & I,,,,, don’t talk about my au there but if given a reason then yes I will


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay! this is (possibly) the last (or second last) of the character insights thing!! yall probably want some actual plot by now and I’ll give you some!! just wanted to share how the characters feel n all yanno?
> 
> one day I’ll write something explaining how the lore of my fic fits into dream smp & SMPEarth canon. that day is not today, however, because exams suck and I have no ideas.
> 
> also it took me more time than needed to search up an alternative Greek hero/heroine comparison thingy,,,,

Tubbo knows he’s different.

Well, he’s not sure exactly when he knew, but he started noticing certain things after the war for L’manburg’s freedom. He never got a chance to pay attention before, but he definitely notices.

He sees the way Niki would mutter words and phrases to herself, looking around before continuing what she’s doing. He notices the way he always felt warm around Tommy, the way everyone seemed to want his attention. He looks at Wilbur and sees the way he always walks around, patrolling the area to protect the area. He watches Fundy blend into the background and swindle things out of people again and again. He notices how Eret always glows in the dark and hides out of the shadows.

Things like these become even more evident when L’manburg becomes Manburg. Tubbo notices Schlatt’s horns spiral and his eyes thinning into slits as things don’t go his way. He sees the way Quackity bounces about, floating in the air before landing lightly, wings so similar yet so different from every other wingfolk’s. He watches the way George drifts through life, ignorant of every chaos and trouble around him, like he’s seen things like that happen so much he’s become bored of it. He notices Technoblade’s eyes follow blood and bruises, sees him take enjoyment in pain more than anyone else.

Even when L’manburg starts rebuilding, Tubbo still notices things. He notices how Phil seems to toe the line of death and life every day, his wings split between black and white. He sees how Connor visits Schlatt’s last resting place every day, sitting and staring into nothingness. He watches as Ranboo skitters everywhere, stumbling on his legs like they aren’t made for him, and always stares longingly at rain. He notices how HBomb always gets a distant look in his eyes whenever something from the Old Days comes up, his body going misty and ashy. He sees how Puffy flits around with a smile and a confidence that gets her out of situations, and the way she talks to everyone, like she knows something they don’t.

Everyone has their little perks. Everyone has their peculiarities and their oddity that doesn’t stand out in a world of oddities. Everyone but him, that is.

He’s just Tubbo. He’s just Tubbo, who is wholly and fully human. He doesn’t have cool powers or weird traits or anything; he’s just a rare, full human, surrounded by beings and people with magic in their blood and the gods singing their names.

Tubbo sits on _the_ bench, alone. Distantly, the sounds of laughter and happiness ring out. He sighs and closes his eyes, before standing up, heading to the meeting place where Dream would be at.

It’s rough, being a human in power, in a world of myths and magic.

Dream sits at the top of the wall, waiting as people slowly arrive. There’s tension in the air so thick he can almost taste it. A smiling mask hides his true emotions as he stares down at the group.

The fury of unwanted, _unneeded, unauthorised_ people stepping on _his_ land is still there, a flurry of warmth raging in his eternally cold self. But that’s pushed away for the moment, in favour of focusing on the so-called ‘Theseus’ of his server, as said by the Blood God: Tommy Innit.

The story of Ariadne is not a well-known one, compared to the classic tale of Theseus and the Minotaur. Sure, she has a happy ending, but that’s only because Dionysus saved her from being stranded and left alone, while Theseus went on to get all the glory.

Poor little Ariadne, going against her father’s wishes to help a boy she’d only met a few days ago, enchanted by the prospect of happiness and love, only to be left stranded and abandoned by the same person she thought she could trust to take care of her heart. Had Dionysus not noticed her, she would’ve died unnoticed and alone, with no one to trust and no one to rely on.

Tommy Innit and Ariadne are alike, in a way. They both place their trust in someone or some people, only to be betrayed again and again. And in the end, no matter how much they try to be a hero and save the day, they end up lost and forgotten, left behind by those who should’ve cared for them, but _didn’t_.

The only difference is that Ariadne had had Dionysus to save her, but Tommy will not have anyone to save him.

Perhaps in another world, there may have been a Dionysus who would come and save Tommy from the grasps of loneliness and anger. Perhaps there would’ve been someone who would stick with him forever, and not fall to the schemes of god.

Business Bay could’ve been Dionysus, but they’re too weak, too mortal, too _human_. They feel and mingle and walk around with those of humanity and not godhood. There is no Dionysus to be found anywhere, and the only god around is Dream himself, and he will not let Tommy have a happy ending.

Dream stares coldly down at Tommy, the boy who shines like the Sun, who burns with a fire and a passion unparalleled to anyone else, who everyone seems to gravitate to, including his own self. 

He wants to watch him _freeze_ and _shatter_.

Technoblade may have compared him to Theseus, but Dream will make sure Tommy stays as Ariadne, without a Dionysus to save him.

Historical moments have an impact. People and beings not even at the place of history will know, so long as they have a connection to the people.

Faraway, in a land of origination and luxury, a little girl stands in front of a portal, blonde hair swaying in the wind. Another girl, much younger, stops as she teleports back to the server hub, rushing back to her home in worry. A woman of the waves stops hanging her clothes to stare at the sea. A boy with velvet hair picks up a call from his lover. 

In the server bordering history, a puppeteer offers a deal to a human president: his country, or his best friend. A group of friends stand among unknowing enemies, playing the long game for their victory. A boy remembers the words of a prophet, and steadies himself. A ghost picks up a book and floats up. And in the distance, a warrior rides to the land he had destroyed.

The fates are twisting. The time is moving. Destinies are changing. The universe holds its breath for what is about to come.

And in the grasps of two soulmates, two discs hum in tandem.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> reading all your comments on the prev chapter makes me laugh bc you’re all just shitting on dream and saying “oh business bay defeated god before dream do your research”, as if dream wouldn’t have calculated that before, as if Dream’s an ordinary god by any means-
> 
> also is this story moving too fast?? someone please tell me so I know if I have to slow things down or not

Despite how everyone might think of him, Dream is far older than they realise. He’s seen things. He’s learned things. He’s adapted and thrived and stood out from the crowd.

And if there’s one thing he knows, is that children can’t be trusted in a position of power. Which is _specifically_ why he planned for Tubbo to become president.

Tubbo is young. Tubbo is human. Tubbo has never been a leader at heart. Tubbo will choose what’s right for the country that’s barely holding onto the edges of the cliff Dream is inching at. He’ll do anything… including giving up his most prized possessions.

He knows just the deal to give the young president. Besides, since when has anyone said that Dream can’t spot good prey?

“I’m a kind man,” Dream says casually, after he lets Tubbo finish his statements. “So I’ll make a deal with you. Either you give me the disc you have, or you exile Tommy Innit. And in return, I’ll take down these walls.”

Rage burns in his body as Tommy fights the urge to get up there and murder that son of a _bitch_.

He knows Tubbo. He doesn’t know how their relationship stands at the moment, but he knows Tubbo. He knows Tubbo doesn’t like being given options which are both bad, and he doesn’t like to break away from friendships so easily. Dream knows exactly what he’s doing, and Tommy _hates_ it.

“I… I don’t,” Tubbo doesn’t move from his position, but his mouth is twisted into a frown.

“It’s either the disc or Tommy,” Dream snaps. “One or the other.”

“There’s got to be another way, right?” Quackity whispers. “I mean, he can’t just…”

“He can,” Wisp hisses, though he doesn’t take out any weapons. “He’s a manipulative piece of shit, after all. He knows exactly what he’s doing.”

“Time is ticking, _president_ ,” Dream calls. “What will be your choice?”

But before Tubbo can do anything, someone else cuts in.

“Dream,” Luke, the youngest of them all, steps forwards, a determined look on his face. “Why don’t we talk about this?”

“Luke, this isn’t-” Deo starts, reaching out. Tommy himself walks forwards, but Luke holds up a hand.

“Privately, Dream,” Luke stares the green bastard down.

Seconds tick by. Tommy’s fists are clenched by his side, but he doesn’t step forwards. Heat builds up in his gut, and he wants to push Luke away from danger and war and _fear_ , but then Dream nods.

“We can discuss it behind here, I’ll cut a hole through whenever you’re ready,” Dream hops down from the wall, and Tommy reaches out to pull Luke back.

“Luke, what the hell?” Tommy holds his hand right, the fear that Luke will disappear off and ~~betray him~~ never come back too bright and warm in his body. Logically, he knows Luke wouldn’t do that, but what if-? 

“Please,” Luke looks at him, sincere and confident. “Let me do this. I won’t betray you, I swear on my life. I’ll make sure Dream doesn’t get his hands on your disc, I promise.”

Tommy looks at him. He swallows.

“Come back alive.” he says. Luke smiles and nods, before turning to knock on the obsidian wall. Two of those blocks are taken down, before quickly being put back up as Luke steps through.

His fists clench at his sides. 

Luke doesn’t know what he’s doing. He had reached out as a last resort, and he hadn’t expected Dream to accept.

But as Dream blocks up the hole and turns to him, he knows he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure those discs don’t land in his hands. And he’ll do his best to get back those discs for Tommy, no matter what he has to do to get it.

“You like games, don’t you?” Luke says. “You like being the mastermind, the puppeteer, the game master, whatever you call it. You like holding the strings to your puppets, making them do exactly what you want.”

“You should get to the point you’re trying to tell me about, before I kill you,” Dream responds casually, swinging his axe around. The violet shimmer gleams menacingly, and Luke resists the urge to shiver.

Luke takes a deep breath. ‘You can do this. This is for Tommy, for your _Sun_.’

“Let’s play a game,” Luke begins. “But you and I will get to choose one rule each.”

Dream pauses. A small grin appears on his face, and Luke only sees it because Dream has raised his mask up to reveal his mouth. “...say your rule first, and if it’s outrageous in my terms, I will refuse.”

Luke wracks his mind. Dream is far from the average being or person, so he would have different beliefs and weaknesses. He isn’t sure if he even cared about anyone at all, and he didn’t have anything he holds dear, so what would be a good term to say that would be interesting enough?

An idea comes to mind. He speaks. And Dream listens.

Deo stands at Tommy’s side, alert, subtly holding him back. 

Despite what he logically knows, his mind isn’t telling him that Luke will betray him. Even though there’s a chance Luke is discussing the prizes he’ll get if he betrays them, his sense refuses to acknowledge that. His sense is almost never wrong.

Deo doesn’t know whether to be relieved or scared.

The wall breaks open. Deo stiffens up, and all conversation— however limited it is before— stops completely, all eyes on Luke, coming through the hole in the wall, with Dream following at his back, a hand on his sword.

“We’ve talked,” Dream begins as Luke takes his place besides Tommy, looking nervous and hopeful at the same time. “And while the terms of this are private, the results are certainly not.”

Deo reaches over to grip Luke’s arm lightly, but firmly. He rubs his thumb over it thrice, in circles. _What did you tell him?_

Luke discreetly shakes his head. He takes his arm from Deo’s grip. _Can’t tell. Trust._

“What is it?” Tubbo steps up to ask. 

“The discs will be held in Skeppy and George’s ender chests for now,” Dream announces. “And if Tommy does anything one more time, he’s out. Understood?”

Deo blinks. Has he misheard?

There’s no way it could’ve been that easy for Luke to convince Dream. He knows Luke, and he believes in what he does, but he also knows Dream, and he knows that for all of Luke’s abilities and power, he can’t convince Dream that easily. No, something must’ve happened behind the scenes.

His eyes flicker over to Luke, who stands still, apprehensive but hopeful. Despite that, his hands are shaking.

The question is, what exactly had happened behind those black walls?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how to avoid writing:  
> step one: literally don’t write about the aftermath of the plot twist, at all.  
> /j
> 
> in all seriousness though, I wanted to touch up on the cameos in chapter 5, so here they are! and also more lore, because why not.
> 
> also technoblade’s sister, who wasnt hinted at, makes an appearance!! her name is Telette, and if you’ve read my oneshots book you’ll know how exactly she came to be

Drista falls out of the portal, any grace and poise she might’ve had thrown away, discarded in the public server just like she discards her mask, her public personality. 

The server she’s in is not a well-known one. In the list of ongoing servers, someone else would have to scroll for a few hours before even having a chance to find out about this world; that’s how obsessively protective her brother is.

The door to the house is flung open. Drista leans on the doorframe, panting, before straightening herself and looking up to meet the unamused eyes of her roommate.

“What the hell are you doing,” her brother’s rival’s sister, who is also coincidentally her roommate, snaps at her, pulling her in and shutting the door quickly. “What’s got you in such a rush?”

“You felt it too, didn’t you?” Drista asks. She stares down Telette’s red eyes, mask clutched in her hands, not having to wear the paper smile when she’s with Telette. “Whatever our brothers are doing in my brother’s own playground.”

“It’s hard to not,” Telette snorts, her piglin ears twitching in irritation even as she walks across half the room to stand in front of their shared weaponry collection. “Even if me and Technoblade don’t get along, we still have our connection. Whatever’s going on in there, it’s getting serious.”

“You’re not worried?” Drista asks with a frown. 

Telette’s hand stiffens. “Why would I be worried for a man who doesn’t even have a _feeling_ to associate with me?”

Drista winces. She’s not too educated in the fine details of piglin culture — and more specifically, Telette’s clan’s culture — but she knows that the fact that Technoblade doesn’t have a feeling to associate with his blood sister means something very unfortunate.

“Go find out what’s wrong if you’re particularly curious, Drista,” Telette sighs, her hand falling away from the transparent window of the collection. She doesn’t turn around. “But I will not worry about a man who can have associated feelings with a man who kidnap-adopted him, another man who doesn’t hold him in the highest regards, and a boy who treats him more of a weapon than a person, but cannot have associated feelings with his own _blood sister_.”

Lani darts into the house silently, light on her feet, to the point where they are practically floating off the ground.

The porch is still the same, with the same potted plants and the same lights, but the withered hyacinth on the porch table and the blank letter tells her everything she needs to know.

“Tubbo…” she mutters, rushing over and sitting down, picking up the hyacinth to inspect it. The withering looks brand new, meaning whatever had happened must’ve happened pretty recently. “What have you done this time?”

She places the hyacinth back down, and looks at the letter. It’s barely the size of her palm, which means she needs to be very careful of her words, and how long her letter will have to be.

Lani takes out a pen she keeps tied around her neck. It’s nothing of importance upon first glance, just a regular black ballpoint pen. But to her family, it means so much more.

She places pen to paper, and begins writing.

_Tubbo._

_This is Lanusky. Please, if you can, give me any information you have. You don’t need to hold your troubles to yourself..._

Sally leaves her basket of clothes outside the moment she hears her communicator pinging.

Even without seeing just exactly who is calling, she knows who it is. After all, she only gives out her communicator ID to a few specific people, and only one of those people can actually call her.

“Fundy,” she greets warmly. “My darling seashell.”

“Mother,” Fundy says. His voice is but a whisper to her ears. “Will you tell me a story?”

Sally chuckles fondly, if a little concerned. But she knows her son needs more comfort than questions, and so she goes along with it, for now. “Well, what story would you like to hear about, my sweet one?”

There’s no noise coming from the other end for a while, meaning that Fundy is probably thinking about it. “A new one,” he finally responds quietly. “A good one. Something that doesn’t have a bad ending. Something… something about friendship.”

Sally goes through her list of stories, both told and untold. A faint memory comes to her, memories of rays of sunlight and soothing ocean waves standing out against all the other memories, and she smiles.

“Let me tell you a story,” she starts. “Of the Cassandra you never knew.”

The rain pattering against the window helps to set the mood. Sally has half a mind to go out and join her brethren in their dances, but her son comes first before anything else, and so she stays at home, and weaves a story to soothe her son.

Velvet hops into the server. The communicator doesn’t show his name; it has never shown his name in the few times he’s had enough time to check in on his boyfriend, and it never will, if things go his way.

The first thing he notices is the tension in the air. Even in his and Antfrost’s hidden vacation base, he can practically taste the stress and fear from tens of thousands of blocks away.

The second thing he notices is the anger and confusion practically pouring out of his boyfriend. Antfrost has always been a private and closed off person, even to him. Velvet doesn’t mind, of course, they both had their secrets they wouldn’t tell each other, but it’s odd for his emotions to be so obvious through their bond.

Quickly, he grabs out the server communicator, and whispers to Antfrost.

_You whisper to Antfrost: kitty? you alright?_

_Antfrost whispers to you: Theres newcomers. dream didn’t invite them. and one of them feels really weird_

_You whisper to Antfrost: I’m at our place_

Soon, Velvet hears pistons being moved, and Antfrost drops into the little water hole they’ve put to reduce fall damage. He looks normal, for the most part, but his pupils are slitted so tiny that Velvet can barely see them anymore, and his tail is swaying in the way that it only does when Antfrost is angry and confused at the same time.

“What happened?” Velvet asks.

“Wispexe happened,” Antfrost growls out. Velvet lets Antfrost crawl onto him, petting his hair softly and smiling at the purrs that come out of him as he relaxes.

“And what happened with Wispexe?”

“He feels,” Antfrost sighs. “He feels different. When I locked eyes with him… the fury from our childhoods came back, Red. It just rushed over me, and I just felt the need to tear and bite and crush-”

“Shush,” Velvet murmured. “You clearly need time to process it first. We can talk about this later.”

“We both feel the tension in the air, Velvet,” Antfrost looks up at him. “What if we don’t have time?”

Velvet strokes his hair, and thinks about blue eyes and a heart-shaped arrow. 

“History cannot touch us in here, beloved. Rest now, and when it is time, we can reenter history once again. It will still go on without us, after all.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> 
> HOW DO I WRITE AGAIN
> 
> I would like to thank my brain for nothing at all, why does it keep switching likes, I have like 3 different fics to focus on, next time I am going to hit Spotify’s app and AAAAAAAA

Ranboo is just trying to have a good day.

It’s not that he doesn’t care about his friends; he does, really! Tubbo has been nothing but nice to him, Tommy had defended him and left him out of the mess that Ranboo himself had started, Fundy and him have had jolly good times planning their shop… they are all his friends, and he would defend them with his life.

But he doesn’t want to get involved in their power struggles. He’s not oblivious to it, no matter how much Niki tries to keep him out of it. He had been born to a power struggle, after all; he knows how the story goes.

He looks up from the flour he’s pouring into the bowl as Tubbo walks into the shop, looking exhausted and so tiny Ranboo feels the need to just swaddle him up in a bunch of blankets and hide him away from the world.

~~He’s just a runt! He should take the human and the sunlight and run away from this land filled with chaos and the roots of a god undying and u̸̡͈̺͋̾͊͊͊̊͝n̷̤̬̜̟̓͘͝b̴̰̙̘̣̻̎̈̀̈̂̈́͑ī̸̥́̂̽̇͝͝r̸͖͓͖̱̰̂̄t̶̤̬̟̦͂̽͊͝͝͠h̸̡̟̠̮͕̾̈̇̀̕ḛ̸̛̰̥̿͂̅͜d̸̛̛̰̙̪̊͘͘͠ͅͅ~~

“-boo? Ranboo?”

Ranboo snaps out of his own thoughts. “Huh? Oh, hi Tubbo! How were things?”

Tubbo lets out a weak, bitter laugh. “It went as good as it can get, Ranboo. Tommy wasn’t exiled, and Dream has a weird agreement with one of his friends.”

“Well that’s- isn’t that great, though?”

“It _is_ ,” Tubbo sighs, leaning his head against his hand. “But I just feel like something’s wrong. Dream wouldn’t just admit defeat so easily; he must have something up his sleeve!”

“Well that sounds like a problem,” Ranboo blinks, not entirely sure what to say. Tubbo groans and puts his head in both his palms.

“It is!” he cries. “And I don’t know what to do about it!”

Tubbo is clearly stressed. Ranboo covers the bowl of flour with a cover, cleans his hands, and walks around the counter to start dragging Tubbo upstairs, to which Tubbo makes a confused noise.

“Where are we going?”

“To relax, obviously!” Ranboo laughs. “You’re stressed, and you can’t think properly if you’re stressed.”

There’s a brief moment of silence as they ascend the flight of stairs. Tubbo lets out a sigh.

“I guess you’re right. What do you have in mind?”

“What the hell was that?!” George spits out the moment Dream steps inside his mushroom house. “What the hell were you talking about with _Luke_ of all people?!”

Dream shrugs, his mask irritatingly on, showing only a smile for his emotion. It makes George’s blood rush in rage and anger. “He made a very convincing argument.”

“Oh, convincing now, was it?” George snarks back. “Cut the deal, Dream. You don’t do this kind of stuff, so what the hell was that?”

“Are you saying I don’t know what I’m doing?” Dream squares up his shoulders, but George doesn’t back down.

His mouth curls into a snarl, but he doesn’t say anything.

Because really, how is he supposed to tell Dream that, yes, he doesn’t think he knows what he’s doing?

George was there when Business Bay joined the server. He was there when, for the first time in a long while, Dream went into a rage so dangerous it charred the ground around them so bad it needed to be destroyed and rebuilt completely. He was there when they tried to do whatever they could to kick them out, but couldn’t.

And most importantly, he was there when Dream decided to make a plan for it, and disappeared for hours on end, while George and the rest of them got no information whatsoever.

Tommy Innit, by himself, is one thing. Tommy Innit with L’manburg is another. Tommy Innit with Business Bay, with a group of four who have defeated gods, and were a force to be reckoned with on SMPEarth, is different from those things.

Dream’s stance visibly softens. “You’re too worried, George. Believe me, I know what I’m doing. I’ve done my research, and I know exactly what will get them to crumble. They can research about me all they want; I’ll always be three steps ahead of them.”

George doesn’t go after Dream as he walks back out. Instead, he watches him leave, and turns around, his body still tense. The words are on the tip of his tongue, but he doesn’t spit them out.

“You’ve done it,” Luke doesn’t jump when he hears Niki’s voice appear so suddenly, but he does tense up and turn around.

“Yeah,” and that acceptance leaves a bitter taste in Luke’s mouth. “Yeah, I did.”

“Good,” Niki murmurs. “You’ve done well.”

“You’re not one to tell me about it,” Like mutters back, overlooking the sea. “What have you done for Tommy?”

“A lot more than you think,” Niki responds calmly. “Just… keep those discs away from Dream’s hands for as long as possible. And don’t let them get destroyed.”

“You want me to get those discs myself?”

Niki sighs. “Whatever it takes to make sure they stay safe.”

“I thought you’d stop me from taking them from George’s and Skeppy’s ender chests, considering how much you don’t want war.”

“I don’t want war,” Niki agrees. “But the war that will start from the discs’ ends is far more dangerous than the one that will start from their safety.”

Luke opens his mouth to ask more, maybe threaten a few words out of the cryptic woman, but a call from Tommy stops him. Still, he shoots a last, suspicious look at Niki as he ascends the stairs.

“Luke,” Deo starts carefully when he reaches the top. “You know you can tell us if anything goes wrong, right?”

A memory rises up to Luke’s mind.

_“You cannot tell anyone about the fine lines of our deal,” Dream drawls. “Otherwise this won’t be a fun game to play.”_

_Luke bares his mouth in a sharp grin, staring up at the god without a fear for his own well-being. “Only if you’ll uphold that on your end as well.”_

“Yeah,” Luke offers a smile that he hopes is convincing enough, but probably isn’t. “I know, Deo.”

“We’re bein’ serious here, Luke,” Tommy frowns. “I don’t wanna see you get hurt if you don’t need to be.”

“And the deal with Dream… if you didn’t want it, we could’ve figured something else out.” Wisp adds on. Luke waves their concerns away with a laugh.

“It’s fine, guys! I promise,” he says sincerely. “I can handle the stupid green bastard. Now we just have to figure out how to get the discs.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my update schedule for this fic will probably fluctuate between 3-5 days tbh, so just a warning for that
> 
> I have a plot, yes. problem: plot happens further into the future. how get there. how do write. fu-
> 
> anyways here have a lil smudge of angst in the middle it’s overdue anyways

“Who were the discs with again?” Bitzel frowns. “Skeppy and…”

“George,” Luke fills in for him. “Skeppy and George.”

“So we need to start moving in on either the guy who doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s side in particular, or the guy who’s notably hard to reach and is part of Dream’ inner circle,” Bitzel finishes the thought process of all of them. “Well, fuck.”

“It’s not the worst thing in the world,” Luke offers up. “At least Dream didn’t just take them for himself.”

“I still think we should’ve ambushed that fucking dick,” Deo mutters. Tommy can’t see past his sunglasses, but he knows Deo’s eyes will have that glint that he always gets when he gets particularly bloodthirsty.

Tommy shakes his head. “Wouldn’t work. Dream is… he’s not…”

He doesn’t really know how to describe Dream. The man’s an egotistical dickhead, and kind of scary at times, but outside of the hate and the slight — and only slight — fear, Dream’s just… he’s just Dream.

“But he isn’t that different from Josh, is he?” Bitzel suggests. “We’ve defeated the guy, and he was a god. Dream should be about the same.”

“We’ve defeated a god before, true,” Luke nods. “But Dream isn’t just a god; he’s far more than that, which is why we need to do this differently.”

Tommy stares at his friend. There’s something in his tone of voice that makes him think that Luke knows more than he actually should.

‘Do you really trust him?’ a little voice in his head whispers. ‘Don’t you remember Eret? Don’t you remember Wilbur? Techno? Don’t you remember what they’ve done?’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ Tommy thinks back, because he _knows_ Luke. Luke would never do that to him.

‘But you thought that about Wisp too, and look what happened-’

“Tommy?”

Tommy blinks back to attention. Bitzel is standing before him, a worried look on his face. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Tommy wipes his eyes and shuts the mean little voice in his head back to the corner where it belongs. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“We were talking about who to get the discs from first,” Wisp says. “We were planning on Skeppy, because George was more connected to Dream, and while Skeppy’s a wildcard, we still have a better chance with him than we do with George.”

“Obviously, if you think it’s a bad idea we won’t do it,” Deo adds on. “You know them better than we do, and you are our leader.”

“No, it’s fine,” Tommy smiles. “You guys already came up with a good idea, we can do that.”

“If you say so,” Deo relaxes. “Alright, so what’s our first move?”

“We need to gain his trust,” Luke says. “Like, I don’t know, start by talking to his friends first, so that they can vouch for us and get us closer to him?”

“That’s a good plan,” Bitzel agrees. “Uh, who are his friends again? The demon guy, the cat man… are there any others?”

“I can do it,” Wisp speaks up suddenly. Tommy turns to stare at him in surprise, and the other winces. “I mean, I was already planning on talking to that Antfrost guy anyways.”

Tommy tilts his head. “Why?”

Wisp shrugs. “We had an unpleasant first meeting. I wanted to clear things up.”

“Wait, when did you meet him?” Bitzel chimes in with a frown. Wisp twists his rangers with each other, and for a slight second, Tommy can see his eyes flicker into slits, before they become normal, human pupils again.

“It’s not really much of a first meeting,” he dismisses. “We just locked eyes, that’s all.”

“And something happened while you two just coincidentally glanced at each other?”

“Well, I guess?” Wisp shrugs. “I don’t know. My instincts were just telling me to both run and hide, so that was strange.”

“Right,” Tommy takes a deep breath, dismissing that matter to worry and panic over for no reason for later, when he’s alone. “So Wisp will go talk to Antfrost, maybe try to gain his trust to get to Skeppy. Deo and Bitzel will gather materials to help us. Luke will handle his deal with Dream _and_ make sure to call us if anything even feels like it will go wrong, and I’ll go talk to Tubbo.”

“You didn’t have to call me out like that,” Luke grumbled, though there’s a smile on his face. A smile that quickly fades when he hears the last part. “Wait, talk to Tubbo?”

“Yeah,” Tommy sighs. “I… he’s still my friend. So I’m gonna go… I’m gonna talk to him, and hopefully we can… y’know.”

He makes a vague gesture which he’s pretty sure the others don’t get. 

“Well, we trust you,” Deo says, so sincere it almost makes Tommy want to refute, because he really isn’t trustworthy, but that thought’s cut off by Deo hugging him. 

And slowly, one by one, the others join in too. Something in Tommy practically _purrs_ at their hold on him, preening at the thought that those who are His are safe and sound and here with him. It sends a warm feeling through his body, and Tommy wants to sink into it, but he knows he still has to tie up unfinished business.

Reluctantly, he pulls away. “So uh,” he clears his throat. “We’ll see each other later?”

Bitzel nods and smiles. “See you later.”

Deo and Bitzel walk off, chatting with each other, occasionally turning back to glance at him. Wisp walks away too, waving goodbye. Luke hesitates before stepping away, heading towards the harbour. Leaving Tommy alone on the wooden path.

He takes a deep breath, and heads to the van to start searching for Tubbo.

“Hey, Tubbo,” Ranboo asks him hesitantly. Tubbo looks up from the bedsheets, and blinks.

“Yeah?”

“So, I haven’t been on this server for long,” Ranboo starts off casually, cleaning off his hands in the sink. The running water is a calm distraction for Tubbo’s mind to start drifting again, but he snaps back to attention when Ranboo asks his question.

“...so really, not to be rude, but why are the discs that important to you and- and Tommy?”

The discs. Cat and Mellohi.

Tubbo stares down at the bedsheets again. He knows the genuine, truthful answer, of course: those were the discs the two of them had first gotten, and the ones they listened to just before and after every major war. They’re important because they symbolise his and Tommy’s friendship.

A friendship which probably isn’t the same as it used to be, but if Tubbo goes down that line of thought, he’ll get all sad again, and he doesn’t want to burden Ranboo with having to comfort him when he inevitably starts crying from thinking about it too much.

“Well, that’s because it’s a- it symbolises me and Tommy’s friendship,” Tubbo says. “It’s really important to the both of us.”

Despite saying those words aloud, it doesn’t make him feel any less uncertain.

It _is_ the truth, isn’t it? So why does he feel as though something is missing? It’s the truth, but it almost feels as if there’s a piece of information missing from it.

Tubbo pushes that feeling away. He already has enough doubts and questions, he doesn’t need one more on top of everything.

“But nevermind that,” Tubbo speaks up in false positivity. “What have you been doing, Ranboo?”

There’s something different about New L’manburg.

Technoblade frowns as he descends Carl the horse, hiding him away in a little spot he had quickly dug up as he makes his way to New L’manburg.

For one, there are walls now. Walls that, based on the pictures he had received from Wilbur and Tommy a few months back, resembled the Old L’manburg’s former walls a bit too closely.

Even without standing closer, Technoblade can tell that these walls are from Dream. Only he would be able to get so much obsidian for such a large area.

He’s careful not to make any unnecessary noise as he walks inside. The invisibility potion will only work so well, and he doesn’t need to get into a fight so soon, not when he’s just here for a quick check-up visit.

The first thing — or rather, the first person he notices is Time Deo. He’s walking alongside someone Technoblade barely recognises as Bitzel, and they’re chatting as they pass by his invisible form.

Technoblade quickly walks past them before they can notice anything weird. Taw he turns back to check, he sees them walking back, checking the area. Deo’s senses have always been on-point, and he barely knows of Bitzel, but he’s pretty sure the guy has some sense to tell him about things like invisibility too.

He spots Phil standing in his house’s backyard, and quickly runs over. The feeling of light wind rushing through and around his hair and body grows bigger as he nears the man.

Even with him being invisible, Phil still senses his presence, because he turns back to head back into his house, Technoblade quickly following behind, and Phil shuts the windows and the doors behind him.

Now in a somewhat safe location, Technoblade breathes out audibly. “Hi, Phil.”

“Techno,” Phil greets him warmly, if quietly. “Did you need something from me?”

“Not,” Technoblade hesitates, but only for a moment. “Not really. I just felt something I shouldn’t have, and came to check.”

“Would you like me to tell you what happened, then? I wasn’t there when it happened, but I heard enough to fill in the blanks.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Phil smiles, and the wind gets more playful, though it still remains light. “Then sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we all love some friends discussing how to kick off their plans to take down the green tellytubby once and for all amirite?
> 
> okay but anyways what would you guys like to see more from these options?:  
> 1\. business bay bonding moments (oh, those are the a-something things right? repetition but in the first letter of everything? what was it called what-)  
> 2\. dream & luke playing 3D chess games (or reversi. or checkers. whichever board game fits)  
> 3\. antfrost & wisp (I do have a plan for their instincts n stuff. trust me. well actually don’t but whatever)
> 
> also sorry for bothering you with so much notes lol


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is quite possibly not the business bay bonding you may have wanted, but it’s the business bay bonding you’ll be getting for now. anyways here have 1k words of Deo and Bitzel relaxing and waiting for their ores to smelt.
> 
> tw warning for a small implication of torture/killing methods. it’s like 3 lines, so don’t worry.

“How do you think the others are doing?” Bitzel asks Deo as they continue strip mining. Deo shrugs, not stopping from his mining.

“Probably better than we are doing,” Deo responds.

They’ve been mining for quite possibly a few hours now, and they’ve only found a stack of diamonds. They would’ve gone to the Nether as well, but Deo’s fairy side still isn’t ready to part away from his Sunshine so soon just yet, and splitting up in a time like this is already a bad idea in itself.

Bitzel lets out a curse as his third iron pickaxe breaks. “Damnit. Hey, Deo, do you have any iron on you? Smelted, not ore.”

“Uh, no?” Deo responds after a quick check in his inventory. “I used up the last ones to make this pickaxe, didn’t I tell you?”

“Are you kidding me,” Bitzel grumbles. “Ugh, fine. I guess we should take a break and let the ores smelt. How much coal do you have?”

“Like, 30,” Deo says as he takes out and places 15 furnaces in a row, mining off some parts of stone to fit all of them. “I was more focused on gold and lapis.”

“I only have a stack,” Bitzel frowns. “But I guess we can work with that. Hey, toss me your ores and stuff, I’ll put ‘em all in.”

“Sure, Bit,” the other tosses out all the ores, letting Bitzel pick them up and place them into the furnaces, before sitting on the ground and nearly falling over. “Oh wow, I’m more tired than I thought I’d be.”

“Guess that’s what we get for not taking a break for so long,” Bitzel sighs, plopping down to the stone ground when he’s done putting all the ores into the furnaces. “...how do you think the others are doing?”

“Didn’t you already ask me this question like less than a minute ago?”

“I know, but I’m bored and there’s not much to do when you’re tired, sore, and deep into a stripmine.”

“Oh please, you’re not _that_ sore and we both know it,” Deo rolls his eyes, the slight darkness of the cave making his glowing eyes ever the more evident. “But honestly? I think Tommy would be doing the best.”

“But why?” Bitzel asks curiously. 

“Well, because he’ll probably be able to track down his best friend the fastest,” Deo shrugs. “Antfrost seems like a shifty guy, and he’s a _cat hybrid_. Don’t know why Wisp, as a _snake hybrid_ , would be so keen on wanting to talk to him peacefully, but at least it’s not the scenario with Luke and _him_.”

“Don’t remind me,” Bitzel groans. “If there was a way to just get rid of Dream permanently, I would take it.”

“I mean, we technically can,” Deo replies. “If _someone_ didn’t go and ban using runes from the Old Days.”

“You and I both know that we’ll inevitably get ourselves into shit we can't get out of,” Bitzel narrows his eyes. “Or did you somehow hit your head and forget about the whole situation back in SMPEarth with Volume Three of Meme Reviews?”

“In my defence, how was I supposed to know that it would almost crash the server?” Deo splutters. “Come on, it’s been years!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bitzel says. “But no matter what you say, I’m not letting you use anything from the Old Days to kill Dream.”

“Would be easier though,” Deo grumbles. “And much cleaner than having to scoop his guts out after electrocuting him. Or would death by arrows hurt more? It might be considered poetic enough for him to die forever.”

“ _Time Deo_!”

“What?! Am I not allowed to wish a painful death upon the guy who tried to hurt our Sunshine?”

“I want him to die as well, but permanent death doesn’t work like that,” Bitzel groans. “Besides, it’s up to Tommy and maybe the others on this server. They’re the ones who suffered the most anyways, they should get to decide what to do with the bastard.”

“I guess you’re right,” Deo sighs. “Hey, can you check on the furnaces, Bit? I’m too tired to move.”

“You are the worst,” Bitzel sighs, but he sits up and starts rifling through some of the furnaces. “There’s still quite a few left. But there’s enough for us to start mining.”

“Or,” Deo suggests. “We could wait until all of that is done before going back the way we came from, then going to check up on either Luke, Wisp or Tommy.”

“We barely collected anything, though,” Bitzel frowns. “Do you really miss them that much?”

“I’m not clingy!” Deo defends. “I’m just worried. 

As if on cue, their communicators ping with a noise, one after the other. Deo and Bitzel stare at each other, before taking out their communicators to check.

_LukeOrSomething whispers to you: bit i think i need more assistance than i thouht i’d need. do you have 3 stacks of iron blocks_

_LukeOrSomething whispers to you: hey deo how much would it cost for you to make like stacks and stacks of iron blocks. like 3 stacks_

“What the hell?” Bitzel murmurs. He quickly shoots a message back. “Deo, you got the same message right?”

_You whisper to LukeOrSomething: we can get it to you in a couple of minutes once it’s all done smelting. deo’s with me. do you need help?_

“Yeah, I did,” Deo mutters back. “Shit, did Dream do something to him? Because if he did, I… probably won’t do anything much but I’ll make sure his death is even more painful.”

_LukeOrSomething whispers to you: no things are taken care of but im gonna need them for a ritual. yes im fine dream has done nothing to me_

_LukeOrSomething whispers to you: actually i think i got a win over him. he looked angry and that makes me happy :)_

“Oh thank god,” Bitzel breathes out, relief crashing back to him in a strong enough wave that it leaves him a little surprised. “He’s fine. He just needs it for a ritual.”

“I wish he didn’t have that deal with Dream or whatever,” Deo sighs. “We should’ve stopped him.”

“What’s done is done,” Bitzel reminds him gently. “Besides, I believe in Luke. He might be the youngest, but he’s damn smart. He knows what he’s doing.”

“Doesn’t prevent me from getting worried over him, though,” Deo says. “And hey, the furnaces are done smelting. We should go back.”

“Fine, fine,” Bitzel gathers all the smelted ores. “We should go to the Nether next time.”

“We have to collect beds and TNT first, though,” Deo says, his eyes flowing brighter at the thought of destruction. “It would be fun.”

“We can’t just destroy the Netherkind’s homes like that so easily,” Bitzel chides as they start making their way back. “We need to tell them to move away, at least.”

“Pretty sure they already have,” Deo mutters, but Bitzel hears it. 

“For the last time, Deo, the Netherkind haven’t put robots in replacement of them to spy on us, can you _please_ let go of that ridiculous conspiracy theory?”

“It’s a good theory!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this may seem a little sudden but I have an explanation for fairy timedeo. it’s called tumblr posts and the fairy side being like,,, less percent compared to his human side. so it doesn’t give him anything but a few behaviour traits and also fairy soul sensing.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *screams*

“So,” Technoblade murmurs. “Business Bay, huh?”

“You remember them, don’t you?” Phil raises an eyebrow. Technoblade chuckles lightly.

“It’s hard not to,” he responds. “They were a thorn on our side during our Antarctic Days.”

In his head, the voices chant.

_“Business Bay!”_

_“E”_

_“ANTARCTIC EMPIRE VS BUSINESS BAY 2.0????”_

_“E”_

_“Pog”_

_“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD”_

_“E”_

Technoblade tunes them out. They always say the same things anyways.

“Well,” Phil eyes him. “What are you going to do about them?”

“It depends, to be honest,” Technoblade thinks back to what he knows of them. “SMPEarth and the Dream SMP are two different places. I’m not entirely sure they can adjust to the differences.”

“Well, they’re looking pretty comfortable so far, mate,” Phil shrugs. “They’ve even got Dream panicked. Besides, you know what they’ll do for Tommy. They can and will adjust and thrive for him.

“Right,” how could Technoblade ever forget? “He used the runes, didn’t he?”

“Of course he did,” Phil laughs lightly. “I only taught him the best, just like I taught you and Wilbur the best.”

Technoblade hums, but says nothing. If he focuses, he can feel Tommy’s warmth as a soothing presence on his skin, akin to a thin cloth being laid over him. 

Business Bay won’t be a problem in the end. Deo may be a problem, and Wisp certainly won’t be turning sides anytime soon, but no matter. They have the same enemies as he does. So long as they don’t get in his way, he won’t get in theirs. That is, unless what they’re doing is infringing on what’s his. 

_“E”_

_“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD”_

_“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD”_

_“E”_

He ignores the chat again. They usually have nothing good to say, and this time is no different.

“I’ll figure out a way to take them down if I need to,” he says. “Technoblade never dies, after all.”

“Bye, Tubbo!” Ranboo waves goodbye to Tubbo, who waves back. He continues smiling even as Tubbo’s figure gets smaller and smaller.

He had a nice time with Tubbo. Admittedly, the younger looked kind of sad, but Ranboo’s glad he could distract him from his stress for at least a small amount of time.

“Ranboo,” he yelps as he whirls around, relaxing when he sees Niki behind him, staring at him in concern.

“Niki, you scared me!” he laughs breathlessly. “Sorry, did you need something from me?”

“Not really,” she smiles. “I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright, you know?”

“Oh,” Ranboo hums. “Well you don’t need to worry about me! I’m a strong independent man who can handle anything!”

“I know, but it’s just…” Niki sighs. “Things have been heating up around L’manburg, you know?”

“I mean, I could tell,” Ranboo may not have a good memory or a good sense of the atmosphere, but even he can tell that things have been tenser than usual. “But don’t worry, Niki. I’ll keep an eye out for anything, and I’ll stay out of anything bad.”

“Good, that’s great,” Niki nods. “I just don’t want you to get unnecessarily hurt.”

Ranboo takes a closer look at how Niki’s holding herself, and _oh_. “Does it have something to do with your recent dreams?”

Niki looks surprised, but she nods. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Just… stay safe, alright Ranboo? I can’t- I can’t lose you again.”

Ranboo is midway through nodding when he catches onto a particular word in her sentence. “Again?” he repeats. 

Niki freezes. “I- nevermind. Ignore that, I was just being silly.”

“Oh, alright,” Ranboo nods, though he keeps that in mind for now. “So uh, how’s your shop been?”

“Dream,” Luke speaks coolly. “How nice to see you here.”

The masked man only barks out a laugh as he swings his legs from where he’s sitting on the porch of the empty house. For a moment, he almost looks like an innocent guy just waiting for someone to arrive.

But the knowledge Luke has of him ruins that picture in a minute. He sighs as he walks forwards to sit next to him on the porch, fully aware of the presence beside him.

“I don’t know,” Dream shrugs. “Weren’t you the one who decided to seek me out first?”

“Only because you told me to,” Luke grumbles. “If it was up to me I would’ve never came here in the first place.”

“You should watch yourself,” Dream laughs. “You and I are playing a dangerous game, and you’re making it all the worse for yourself.”

“Yeah, that’s the point. Now what did you want to tell me?”

“Well,” Dream drawls out. “Am I not allowed to make sure you’re playing by the rules of our game? It’s not in good sportsmanship to cheat, you know?”

“I’ve heard the rules well enough,” Luke says, turning his attention to the fishes swimming below the houses. “I don’t need to cheat to win at this game.”

“You know, I find it funny that you think you can win so easily,” Dream laughs airily. “You can’t just make me lose a life with swords and sharp words alone, Luke.”

Luke eyes Dream. His sentence is simple enough, but there’s some sort of implication there, one he’s not sure he likes.

‘Not the usual runes, then,’ he thinks, making sure to keep his thoughts as vague as possible, just in case Dream can actually read minds. ‘Better to use the volumes.’

“That’s laughable, coming from someone who was defeated by iron doors,” Luke shoots back. Dream doesn’t show anything; if anything, he seems to grow even more delighted.

“True,” he agrees, and says nothing else.

They sit in silence for a while. That is, until Luke slides off the porch. 

“If you’re not going to say anything, then I’m leaving,” he calls, already walking off. The silence was getting uncomfortable, and he doesn’t fancy staying near Dream any longer than he needs to.

Behind him, he hears Dream snicker, and say, “If that’s what you want. But we’ll be meeting more after this, and you really should look after those friends of yours. They’re already getting suspicious, aren’t they? You’re not doing a very good job at winning, are you?”

Something in him snaps, and Luke whirls around, the words spilling out of his mouth before he can think about it.

“Better be careful, Ouranos,” he bites out. “Or you might just get cut by those broken friendships of yours.”

Dream doesn’t show any outwardly changes, but his fists clenched at his sides. “I should say that same sentiment to you too.”

With a blink, Dream disappears. Luke scowls. He turns and walks away from their meeting spot, intent to speak to a certain person. As he walks, he furrows his brows.

‘The air is oddly hot today,’ he thinks. With a shrug, he dismisses it, and continues on his way.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh
> 
> enjoy?
> 
> also!! unrelated but quick self-promo time (if this is like taboo or something I’ll remove this):  
> I recently wrote a dadinnit fic (which you can find on my acc) called **making it better for whoever comes after** and it would be nice if you could check it out?? you don’t have to of course but if you’re looking for pure fluff then you can find it there :D!!
> 
> uh I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Ghostbur hasn’t seen the new arrivals in a while.

He has been busy with increasing his library and brewing potions. That, and he’s been walking around L’manburg, because walking around L’manburg is fun and nice, and it makes him happy!

It’s not so happy when people try to get him to remember things. Why can’t they just accept that he’s not Alivebur? Alivebur was bad. Ghostbur isn’t bad. At least, he doesn’t think so.

He also hasn’t seen Dream in a while. Ghostbur doesn’t really like him; something about him makes him want to be bad, like ignite TNT and commit arson, and those things are bad. Ghostbur isn’t bad.

What makes a person bad? Is it the things they do? The things they say? Their morals? Their accomplishments? Their personality? 

What makes a person fall? Death? Disease? Paranoia? Selfishness? Betrayal?

~~Wilbur Soot has a twisted memoir of his life that wants to be listened to. That needs to be listened to. He is a collection of memories that never were and are, and Ghostbur doesn’t want- he isn’t- he’s not-~~

Ghostbur perks up when he spots two people rushing by. He recognises the sunglasses and the blue hoodie!

“Hello!” he says brightly, stepping in their way. “It’s lovely to see you again!”

“Uh, you too Ghostbur?” the blue hoodie — Bitzel! Yes, his name is Bitzel — says.

“So what are- where are you two going?” Ghostbur asks. 

“Somewhere,” the sunglasses — Deo! Time Deo? Time Deo! — responds shortly. “Sorry Ghostbur, but we can’t stay long. It’s very important, so we have to go now.”

“Oh,” Ghostbur says sadly. He’s been hoping that they would stay to talk with him, but he can understand if something is important then they have to go quicker. “Will you talk to me later? Or perhaps visit my home?”

“Sure,” Deo says, quickly pulling Bitzel along. “We have to go now, Ghostbur, so goodbye.”

And just as quickly as they’ve come, they’ve gone. Ghostbur hums as he continues walking-floating around L’manburg.

It’s a nice day today!

...Ghostbur hasn’t seen the new arrivals in a while.

_Thunder striking a screaming child. Fire, destruction, lightning. Withered smoke filling the air as withers run around. Broken wings, broken armour, broken weapons._

_No sunlight is filtering through the ashy clouds. Standing in the middle of destruction, flames burning down the tree that stood through everything. L’manburg has been gone, will be gone, is gone, time and space and volume and mass are all nothing in this destructive, decaying world._

_Tragedies are made for them, and they are made for tragedies. Friends split apart, children young and tired and exhausted and being Atlas and Theseus and Perseus and Achilles and the Greek heroes that once were, history repeating itself over and over again._

_The discs the discs the discs they sing they hum they want revenge and peace and friendship and so so so much more but they cannot escape nor eat nor run-_

_The sky turns black. Ouranos is angry._

_“I WILL FINISH WHAT WILBUR HAS STARTED!”_

The world spins around Niki as she steadies herself. She takes a deep breath to clear her head and make sense of the vision she had gotten.

There had been death and destruction. And fires. Those are the most obvious parts. L’manburg had been… destroyed, and Niki hates that she doesn’t feel as bad about it as she rightfully should.

The comparison to Greek tragedies are suspicious, but she guesses that they’re more of a filler than an actual comparison. The shift in the middle from scene to vague descriptions — almost as if it is the thought process of someone — is unusual, but she’s seen it happen once or twice before.

She already knows that the discs are important. It’s been brought up in the last five visions she’s had by now. But the way they are being shown… almost as if they’re sentient…

No, they can’t be. Discs are server-spawned, and the codes would’ve cleansed them by now.

It’s the last line that brings her the most pause. The line sounds awfully like something Dream would say, as some mocking semblance to compare and use the past. Whatever happens, Dream cannot have the discs. And he especially cannot take down L’manburg.

Because no matter what happens or what would’ve happened, L’manburg is still the first country that defied his order. It would make sense for him to try and get rid of it.

And no matter how many second thoughts Niki has about following Tubbo’s L’manburg, she knows it cannot fall. Not under Dream’s orders, anyways.

“Hey Fundy, can I talk to you for a second?”

Fundy pauses as he turns around, ears flicking as he faces Quackity. “Yeah?”

“No, like,” Quackity visibly hesitates. “Like, in private. I need to talk to you about something that can’t be talked about so, uh, so publicly.”

“Alright then,” he responds, shoving his hands into his pocket as he follows Quackity to wherever he wants to go. Where, as it turns out, is the Prime Church of the Holy Land.

“I need to confess something,” Quackity laughs nervously. “And what better place to do it than a church?”

Fundy frowns. Quackity doesn’t seem to be acting any weirder than he has before, but there’s something… off, about him today, in particular.

Somehow, for some reason, Fundy finds himself standing behind the desk of the church as Quackity stands on the opposite side.

“I have to say, you’re the first person I’ll be saying this to,” Quackity giggles. “And you absolutely cannot tell anyone else, alright? If you do, I’m afraid I’ll have to make sure you won’t spill again. Loose lips sink ships, am I right?”

Fundy shivers at the look Quackity is giving him. “Hey, man, you’re kind of uh, you’re acting weird, Quackity.”

“Me? Weird? Aren’t I always?”

“You don’t admit it, though.”

“True, true,” Quackity says easily. “But really, you can’t tell anyone else, promise?”

“I swear it, Quackity.”

“Good, good,” he mutters. “Alright, lean closer.”

Fundy obliges. Quackity cups his hands around his mouth, and whispers.

“I ate Schlatt’s heart, Fundy. And it’s beating in me.”


	13. Chapter 13

Fundy has to take a few moments to get over the sheer incredulity he feels, because _what_? Out for everything he could’ve said, Quackity decides to say _that_?

“Quackity, are you on crack?” he asks. “Are you like… alright up there? Did you do too many of your, uh, drugs?”

“Oh, of course not, I’m perfectly fine!” Quackity chirps, and Fundy’s already inching towards the doors of the church, because there’s something not quite right about Quackity right now. “But I’m not done yet. Won’t you please listen?”

“Uh… sure…”

“I ate Schlatt’s heart, and it’s beating inside of me,” Quackity smiles widely. “It feels so warm, Fundy. Don’t you want to be warm as well?”

“N-no thanks…? Big Q, you’re acting a little, ah-”

“Warmth is really nice,” Quackity continues, running his mouth over Funyd’s feeble protests. “I mean, it heats you up when it’s cold, it’s very, well, warm, you have no need to wear clothes when it’s warm, and it’s the perfect time to plan world domination and parties and even better — beach hangouts!”

“Wait, go back.”

“Hmm? Is there something wrong?”

“What was the last thing you said?”

“Beach hangouts?”

“No, further back.”

“Parties?”

“Before that.”

“Oh, you mean world domination!”

“Yes, that!” Fundy wants to tear his hair out. He doesn’t know what’s gotten into Quackity, but whatever it is, it needs to get out of his friend. “Why?”

“Well, it’s simple, isn’t it?” Quackity shrugs. “If I conquer the world, I can put laws in place. And with those laws in place, I can make sure no one hurts what’s mine ever again. It’s for protection, you see. That, and warmth!”

Fundy sucks in a sharp breath. It seems to give less oxygen than before. Quackity grabs his hands and shakes them, a manic look in his eyes.

“Don’t you see, Fundy?” he questions with a beaming, bright smile. “We can take over! Tubbo’s had too much control over everything recently, and Dream’s been up too high on his horse. We can conquer the sky, we can conquer the land, and we can take everything for ourselves! Isn't that fun? Won’t that be so warm?”

“You don’t know what you’re saying!”

“Oh I do,” Quackity giggles, and lets go of his hands to spin around. “I’ve been ignored so much, it feels so nice to be listened to for once! Oh, Fundy, we can do so much together!”

And for some inexplicable reason, a memory of the story his mother had told him yesterday pops into his head.

_Cassandra was plagued by madness and inner despair, cursed to forever hold a shard of the god known as Apollo. His love for her was wild and uncontrollable, and in this story, that is not a good thing. She did not love him back, not in the way that he did, and this was the price she had to pay for it._

_And despite all of that, people still did not believe her words. Who would believe a measly princess in a house of warriors? No matter how much she fought, she would always be overshadowed by those around her._

The air is suffocating. Quackity continues rambling on about Schlatt and parties and alcohol and world domination, and Fundy just wants it all to end. That, and figure out what the hell happened to Quackity, because this doesn’t seem like a sudden thing.

In a last attempt to stop him, Fundy reaches for the basin of holy water, grabs its side, and throws it over Quackity.

The water splashes over him, and Quackity lets out a screech, but it sounds as if there’s another voice behind the other’s own voice. Smoke comes from Quackity’s body, but the other hybrid is fully dry as the smoke slowly disappears into nothingness.

Fundy gasps for breath as Quackity slumps down to the ground, himself falling onto the floor. His heart beats frantically against his chest, but all Fundy can think in this kind of situation is, ‘What the _fuck_.’

Carefully, he stands up and pokes Quackity’s prone form. The other groans, but doesn’t move. Fundy gets to work making sure everything looks the same as usual, and fills up the basin of holy water again. Then, he pokes Quackity again, and this time, he groans and rolls over.

“Ugh, it’s too early for this,” Quackity groans.

“You collapsed and the first thing you have to say is that?!” Fundy says incredulously, lying out of his teeth.

Quackity shoots up, looking around wildly as he realises where he is. “I… I collapsed? What did I do? What happened? Why are we here?”

“Nothing, you just collapsed,” Fundy lies, already frantically making notes mentally on what happened. “We just talked for a while, and you were about to say something?”

“What was I trying to say?” Quackity frowns. Fundy shrugs.

“Well, I don’t know, you just kinda froze up and then you just kinda collapsed like that,” he says. “Anyhow, I need to go find Tubbo, so maybe we can talk later?”

“Oh, sure!” the other agrees, wings fluffing up. As Fundy turns, he thinks he hears a wince from the man, and speeds up his pace.

**_What makes a flower wilt?_ **

**_What makes a man lose his morals?_ **

**_What makes a woman swear betrayal?_ **

**_What makes someone wish for death?_ **

**_What makes a friendship break apart?_ **

**_What makes a god lose his sight?_ **

**_What do all of them have in common?_ **

**_Corruption, for one. It can tear someone apart from the inside, it can make a country burn into dust, it can do a lot of things. And just what represents corruption?_ **

**_11 and 13, of course. They are corruption and distortion, the worst music to ever be heard in humanity’s ears. They are also always, always entwined with each other._ **

**_Wake up, Mellohi. Wake up, Cat._ **

**_Yours are waiting for you._ **

“Bad?”

“Yeah? What’s up, Skeppy?”

“Where’s Antfrost?”

“Uh, I think he’s gone to his meeting place. The one with Velvet? Wh- Skeppy, where are you going?”

“I need to talk to him.”

“Why?”

“...it’s nothing, Bad. I just need to talk to him.”

“Are you two planning something?”

“We would never betray you, Bad. Badlands supremacy, remember? At any rate, if this goes well, this will only be a one-time thing. I’ll come back soon, alright?”

“Alright, Skeppy. I trust you.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m writing this like the dream smp plot line: there’s like 5 different things going on at any given moment, viewers are screaming and so am I, confusion 100, and nobody actually knows what’s going on not even me
> 
> listen this really isn’t a good example of my best work please check out my other stories, I promise I write better stuff than this.
> 
> but uhhhh here have a return to this particular plotline

“Antfrost,” Velvet tries. “Darling?”

“You won’t get me to go with your pet names,” his boyfriend grumbles, head in his lap. Velvet sighs, fond but exasperated, and gently cards his fingers through his hair.

“Your communicator has been pinging for 5 minutes now.”

“Well yes, and I have been ignoring it for 5 minutes now.”

Velvet sighs, and takes the communicator to look at it. He finds a few whispers. Some are from Wispexe, who is apparently trying to find his boyfriend to talk about something. But there’s also someone else: Skeppy, who is also trying to find Antfrost to talk to him.

An idea comes to his head, and well, Velvet has never bothered to pretend to like order and peace.

“What are you doing?” Antfrost asks, suspicion clearly in his voice as he finally tilts his head up, while Velvet types something into his communicator. He doesn’t bother snatching it back, though, because they both trust each other too intimately to think that the other is up to no good.

“Nothing much,” Velvet winks. “Just setting up a meeting for you.”

“With who?” Antfrost sits up, eyes narrowed. “Velvet, what did you do?”

“Nothing that would hurt you, sweetheart,” he says gently. “I’m just making sure that you don’t laze around in here all day, and procrastinate in facing your fears.”

Antfrost groans nonetheless, even as he slowly gets up. “Is it a meeting with Wispexe? Oh god, it’s a meeting with him, isn’t it?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” Velvet says, after making sure that the coordinates he sent are in a good place. “Now come on, honey, let’s get you up there.”

“You are the worst boyfriend ever,” Antfrost groans, but the teasing tone in his voice is enough to make Velvet relax. He snickers and shoves him forwards gently.

“Go outside, Ant,” he says warmly. “I’ll be waiting when you come back.”

Antfrost whispers to you: 549 67 -339 coordinates meet me there

Wisp grumbles as he eats another piece of steak when his energy starts to run out again. Of course the cat hybrid would make him walk far away from the main areas. He should’ve known that he would be petty like that.

Then again, Wisp probably would’ve done the same. Still, he regrets not taming a horse beforehand, but he can’t really put off this conversation any longer, not if he wants to get answers.

Surprisingly, there’s also someone else in the distance. Wisp slows down his pace, lightening up his footsteps, to the point of near-silence. As he gets closer, he winces when he realises just how stacked the other is.

Upon closer look, that ‘someone’ is Skeppy.

Wisp has heard of Skeppy before. Probable co-leader of the Badlands, has a weird and messed up life distribution, and perhaps most importantly, he’s one of the two people who have Tommy’s discs. With all that information, Wisp should technically be threatening him right now. He probably wouldn’t survive, but he could at least make an unsettling first impression that Skeppy would be scared into giving away the disc to them when the time calls for it. 

Oh, who is he kidding? That plan’s too risky to actually work.

Wisp meets Skeppy’s eyes, and he pauses.

Skeppy also pauses. He’s clutching a Netherite sword in one hand, and dressed in full Netherite armour. Despite that, Wisp gets the feeling that he’s more scared of him than Antfrost.

Wisp sticks out his tongue, a low hissing sound making its way out of his throat as he walks closer, and while the other doesn’t flinch, he does look distinctly uncomfortable.

Huh. Maybe he could actually annoy and strike fear into him enough that he’ll hand over one of the discs. It’s a long shot, but it isn’t impossible.

“So,” he draws out the word. “What are you doing here for?”

“What are you here for?” Skeppy shoots back.

Before Wisp can answer back with something either sarcastic or snarky, Antfrost finally arrives. And then he starts to look between the both of them in confusion, and Wisp sighs.

There’s another awkward pause. A rather long one, actually.

“I… thought there would only be one of you,” Antfrost starts slowly. Wisp rolls his eyes.

“Well, I obviously did too,” he says dryly. “But I guess you also sent the coordinates to mister diamond boy over there. Either that, or someone’s a stalker, and it’s not me.”

“Oh, fuck off,” for someone associated with BadBoyHalo, Skeppy could really cuss. “And it’s not like I was expecting you to be here either. I only needed to discuss something with Ant, not you.”

“Neither did I, but here we are,” Wisp sighs again. “Look, we could just… take turns or something. Besides, I wanted to talk to him first, so I should go first.”

“Nope,” Skeppy simply replies, popping the ‘p’, like a kid younger than 10. 

“Yup,” Wisp responds. If Skeppy doesn’t want to give a good argument, that means Wisp doesn’t need to give a good argument either, right?

“I have a boyfriend,” is Antfrost’s intelligent response to this whole debacle, and Wisp internally groans when he realises that he actually finds that joke funny.

“Well, one of us has to give,” Wisp shoots a dark look at Skeppy. “So if Skeppy could just kindly leave…”

“I don’t know, what about-” Skeppy suddenly freezes in the middle of his sentence. Wisp looks at Antfrost, but the other doesn't look bothered by the fact that his friend is literally turning red, so he guesses that it’s just a normal thing on this server.

“You know what?” Skeppy suddenly says. A smile appears on his face. “Nevermind, Wisp, you can talk to him first. Antfrost, let’s meet at the Badlands later, I have something to show you.”

Wisp watches as he quickly turns and runs away. He frowns.

“Is he okay?” he asks. “He doesn’t seem very sound of mind there.”

“Skeppy’s fine,” Antfrost replies, sounding kind of harsh. “Now come on, what did you need to speak about?”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> should rewrite this but I feel like I owe y’all a quicker chapter tbh

“Oh please, you know what we need to speak about,” Wisp rolls his eyes. “But we should actually head to somewhere much less open than an area like this. It might be far, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t eyes everywhere.”

Antfrost glances off to the side, to a seemingly innocent bush, and grimaces. “True. There’s a hole somewhere below, actually. We could discuss it there.”

“A hole?”

“Well, we call it a hole, but it’s more like a small, hidden underground room,” Antfrost clarifies. 

Despite his instincts telling him to lunge and kill and run and attack, Wisp follows Antfrost down a hidden path, revealing a door. As he opens the door, Wisp’s eyes widen as he sees the room.

It’s small, but it looks to be fitted with all of the essentials. There’s only two chests in the whole place, as well as a small table. Other than those, everything is made of stone. 

‘It’s been looted,’ he notes mentally.

“There’s a lot of these around the SMP,” Antfrost explains, as Wisp looks around curiously. “They’re remnants from the people that used to live around here. Some of them might even be from the Old Days, but none of us can be too sure about that part.”

“What happened to them?” he asks, glancing around the simple but useful room.

“No one actually knows,” Antfrost shrugs. “Most of us think that they just disappeared. When I came here with Dream, the plants already grew over everything, and what’s left is mostly hidden underground. Most of the things have already been taken, too.”

“Hmm,” Wisp doesn’t reply with much, too busy investigating the room.

The room looks like a bunker more than it looks like a simple hiding place. There’s no runes anywhere to be found, but then again, the magic could just be more complicated. There certainly seems to be magic in the air, anyways. Or it could just be his and Antfrost’s presence.

“We should probably get to the point,” Antfrost eventually says.

“Look, maybe you don’t really like me, which is perfectly acceptable, I hate you too,” Wisp begins with a shrug. “But admit it. We can both bring benefits to each other. The Badlands are a neutral faction, so you won’t necessarily be betraying anyone. And it’s not like anyone else outside of our own factions will have to know, since this is kind of a two-way street. So, with all of that away, why don’t we team up to get rid of the big bad? Y’know, the little green bastard?”

“Are you really asking me to work against my own friend?” Antfrost raises an eyebrow, tail crooking upwards.

“Is Dream still your friend?”

“...fair enough. Still, what would I get out of this? If anything, this just gives you all the benefit.”

“It’s actually giving neither of us the benefit,” Wisp corrects. “I’m sure you’ve felt the weird instinct thing you’ve been getting everytime we’re near each other. If we spend more time together, we can figure out just why this is happening, and if it’s needed, we can hold it over each others’ heads as well. That is, unless you’re holding something back from me, in which case, fair enough.”

“Believe me, I have no clue about this either,” Antfrost responds. “I have theories, but not actual facts.”

“Well, me neither,” Wisp smiles. “So, we can work together. It would be fun. Are you in or not?”

“Sounds like you’re giving me quite the preposition here.”

“Wh- oh fuck you, not like _that_.”

Antfrost snickers lightly, before he speaks again. “Just so we’re clear about this, we’re not friends.”

“Oh, of course not. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate you, and I still want to kill you. I’m just not letting my instincts speak for me.”

“That’s homophobic,” Antfrost replies quickly, and Wisp lets out a small laugh at that joke. “...so there will be no strings attached after this?”

“No strings attached after Dream falls,” Wisp assures. “I’d never do such a thing like blackmail.”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Antfrost eventually replies, after a quick check in his communicator. “But I’ll get to you in less than a week.”

“Sure,” Wisp nods. “Truce?”

“Truce,” he nods back, and heads to the door.

“And one last thing,” Wisp adds. Antfrost pauses his stride to the door. 

“Yes?”

“What’s up with the whole red theme your whole group has going on? I mean, other than you, but still…”

“I do have a red theme,” Antfrost simply responds, holding up a pendant he’s gotten from somewhere on his body. The ruby gleams. “Now goodbye.”

And then he leaves, leaving Wisp to just stand there.

‘Strange,’ he thinks.

“You’re packing already?”

“Well, time is of the essence, is it not? It’s not like anyone’s gonna wait for me to investigate,” Drista sighs, slamming her carry-on luggage shut as she hefts it onto her shoulder, turning around to face Telette, who’s leaning against the doorway.

Telette frowns, but she doesn’t say anything as she leads her to the door.

“...are you going to say anything?” Drista asks eventually, as she stands in the doorway between the inside and the outside. “You’re really quiet.”

“There’s not much for me to say,” Telette shrugs. “You and I both know I don’t agree with you leaving, and you and I both know that there’s nothing I can do to stop you.”

“But you’re holding back something, aren’t you?” Drista frowns. “Come on, Telly. We’ve promised not to keep secrets from each other anymore.”

Telette looks away. “You’re not that strong, you know.”

To anyone else, the comment would’ve been seen as an insult. But to Drista, who’s lived with Telette for years now, and who knows her speech patterns, she knows that Telette’s worried.

“Aww, you’re worried about me?” Drista coos. “Don’t worry. I’ll come back when I’m finished with everything, I promise. And I don’t break my promises.”

Telette grips her hand, and stares into her eyes. “Then promise me you’ll keep in contact. I don’t- I won’t lose you like I’ve already lost my brother.”

She wants to point out that technically, she hasn’t lost Technoblade yet; they’re both just emotionally constipated people — although it is kind of hypocritical for her to say that — who can’t articulate well, but belief has always been more powerful than truth, and so long as Telette thinks she’s already lost her chance, it’ll stay that way.

Drista stares back, and smiles. “I won’t,” she promises, swearing her oath out loud. “I’m better than that. I’m better than him.”

Telette breathes out a shaky sigh, before hugging her tightly. “I’ll see you when you come back.”

“If you ever become lonely without me, you can always visit Lani,” she teases lightly, although there may or may not be tears in her eyes.

“Sure, maybe I will,” Telette hums, pulling. “I wish you the best of luck, Drista. Don’t die out there.”

“I won’t!” Drista chirps, wiping away a few stray tears, before turning away, squaring up her shoulders as the door closes behind her.

She has a brother to find, and a mystery to solve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> are you looking for a kidnapping & obsessive behaviour trope in mcyt? well have no fear, for [a loss painted white](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28869147/chapters/70817916) is here! uhh main protagonists are fundy & tommy, and main antagonists are dream & george. for the record, this is a darker fic than what I usually write, and I know that most people are icky about reading these kinds of things, so feel free to sk past this entire note if needed to. 
> 
> i may be self-promoting a lot, but in my defence, I’m very proud (aha sorry I’ll stop soon)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *peeks out from a corner* hello,,,, sorry,,,,
> 
> this was very hard to write for some reason?? although that probs isn’t an excuse aha :’)
> 
> anyways here have the clingy duo confrontation that’s been hyped up for like 5 chapters now. I warn you, it’s not that great. disclaimer: I am not portraying either of them as the villain here
> 
> ((also I have another business bay idea now but I am Holding Back until I can properly write it because I will Not Stress Myself))

Tommy knocks once on Tubbo’s door. Then again. And again.

Frowning, he steps back. Just as he turns around, someone bumps into his chest.

He makes a small ‘oomph’ noise, stumbling back. Looking down, he sees Tubbo looking up at him, slightly disheveled, and with reddish eyes.

“Tommy?” he says shakily. “I- what are you… why are you here?”

“I was looking for you,” Tommy says, voice halting and uncertain now that something he didn’t think would be happening now is, well, happening _now_. “But I guess you don’t want me here-”

“No!” Tubbo blurts out, and winces at his own tone. “I mean- today’s not a good time, alright?”

“Of course today’s not a good time, no day ever is,” Tommy doesn’t mean to sound so biting, but he’s still kind of mad at Tubbo.

Still, it does make him feel bad when Tubbo’s face darkens, but the words that come out next make him retract any sympathy he had. “Yeah, today isn’t a good day, because _you_ nearly messed up everything again.”

“Me? I messed up everything?” Tommy steps forwards in anger. “It’s more like Dream made everything get out of control, and you just followed along like- like a little lamb or some stupid animal! You’re just like ‘okay Dream’ and ‘yes Dream’ when he shouldn’t even be butting into L’manburg in the first place! If you had only stood your ground-”

“Well maybe if you actually respected me instead of treating me like your sidekick that always comes whenever you call,” Tubbo snaps. “We wouldn’t be in that fucking position in the first place! For Prime’s sake, you made everything worse when you started talking out in the meeting!”

“I’ve never treated you like that! And it wasn’t _my_ fault!”

“Oh really now?! Because I think you need a reality check, Tommy!”

“On the contrary, I think you do! You just- you just gave away my disc like that to Dream! Just because he asked! I gave that to you as a sign of trust and you threw it all away!”

“It was for L’manburg, Tommy! Maybe you think that the discs are more important than whatever we have, and maybe you think that your discs are worth more than L’manburg, but unlike you, _I’m_ not blinded by some stupid pieces of circles.”

They’re arguing in the streets now. Anyone can stumble upon their yelling, anyone could see what they are doing. Tommy kind of wants somebody to watch and witness, because at least someone else would know the truth.

~~But what is the truth?~~

“I have- I’ve never said-”

“Oh, so now you’re trying to pull your mind tricks on me? The discs don’t matter, Tommy! They never did! Whatever happened to just us, huh? What- I don’t-”

Tubbo has tears flowing down his cheeks. On instinct, Tommy raises his own hands to his eyes, and wipes his own tears away. Huh, he’s crying.

“I never thought that, Tubbo,” he says, suddenly quiet. “I don’t- I was stupid, okay? I didn’t actually think that; you’re Tubbo, and you’re-”

How can he tell him that both the discs and him equally matter? In different ways, sure, but Tommy doesn’t think that he could live without either.

“Let’s go to the bench,” Tommy says abruptly, and takes off before he can change his own mind. As he walks, he sees Ghostbur peeking out from a corner of a building, and only increases his steps.

As he sits down with Tubbo next to him, overlooking the view, it feels as though nothing has changed. This bench has stayed throughout everything, but they haven’t. 

Tommy puts his hands to his sides. He sees Tubbo curl in on himself, hands on his lap. Silence hangs in the air between them, neither of them wanting to take the first word.

There’s only one thing that Tommy can say.

“Why?”

Why, indeed.

Tubbo knows what his original intentions were. To make sure L’manburg didn’t get into any more wars, to prevent it from being destroyed again. Everyday, it seems like something new happens that threatens L’manburg’s destruction, and as its president, he has to make sure it doesn’t fall again. And above all, he has to make sure he doesn’t become like his predecessors.

~~Wilbur was a madman and a nature-touched. Schlatt was a tyrant and a ram hybrid. Tubbo is human, and he’s not quite sure what he’ll become.~~

“I don’t know,” Tubbo shrugs, looking away. “I guess I just didn’t want to fight anymore.”

There’s nothing more to be said. They’re both tired of the fighting, of the tension that naturally comes with having Dream around and butting into what they do. They’re both exhausted with the uncertainty that’s been laid over their friendship.

A lot of things have changed. And Tubbo isn’t quite ready for one of those things to be their friendship.

“The discs aren’t everything,” he says. “They’ve never been everything.”

It’s the truth, he knows that. They’re just plastic that can be replaced. Sure, it would be bittersweet to lose them, but the memories would still stay. So why does it feel so wrong to say?

“Sorry for giving your disc away,” Tubbo mumbles, because it’s not like he can say anything else. At the very least, he can apologise for that.

“Sorry for not listening to you,” Tommy responds awkwardly. “And for- for not shutting up, I guess.”

There’s a million other words Tubbo can say right now. Yelling, perhaps. Some passive-aggressive remarks. Tearful apologies. Chattering about random things to take the topic away from whatever their current talk could be categorised as. Maybe even bursting into tears on the spot.

In the end, he settles for something simpler. Something familiar.

“Let’s not be idiots again, yeah?” Tubbo asks, even though he knows that they’ll both absolutely continue to be idiots. Tommy nods, eyes flickering between him and somewhere else.

“Yeah,” Tommy utters softly, and they sit in silence before he breaks the silence.

“So we’re friends again, Big T?” Tommy asks. Tubbo looks at his fist, and bumps his own against his.

“We’re friends again, Small T,” Tubbo confirms with a smile, while Tommy sputters at the nickname.

“Wha- okay, no you’re the small T, you’re shorter than me you bitch-”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha happy 2 months of this slow-to-update fic lol


End file.
